Columbia  ollniticm'tp 

THE  LIBRARIES 


Bequest  of 

Frederic  Bancroft 

1860-1945 


fuejii   -Z,  /'?o  S'. 


-^Xi7  ^      f^ 


PERSONAL      RECOLLECTIONS 
I  8  I  3—1  89  3 

OF 

REV.    CHARLES   E.    BROWN 

WITH   SKETCHES   OF   HIS   WIFE  AND   CHILDREN 
AND 

EXTRACTS  FROM  AN  AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

OF 


^ 


REV.    PHILLIP 

PERRY 

BROWN 

1790 

—  1862 

WITH 

SKETCHES 

OF  HIS   CHILDREN 

AND 

THE 

FAMILY     RECO  RD 

17  67- 

—  1907 

¥. 

r' 


^' 


/ 


IN    LOVING    REMEMBRANCE   OF    MY    WIFE 

FRANCES    LYON    BROWN 

VMHO  for  nearly  fifty  years  shared  with  me 
the  labor,  trials  and  privations  of  pioneer 
missionary  life;  whose  cheery  presence  made 
the  humble  log  cabin  on  the  western  frontier 
the  happiest  of  homes,  and  whose  sunny,  hope- 
ful disposition  found  for  every  cloud  a  silver 
lining-,  these  recollections  are  affectionately  in- 
scribed. 


(9G) 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  I. 
Birth.     Earl3'  Life.     Education.     Ordination  to  the  Min- 
istry, and  marriage. 

Chaiter  II. 
Appointment    as  a    Missionarj',    and    the   journey,    New 
York  to  Iowa,  in  1842. 

Chapter  III. 
Pioneer  life  on  the  Western    Frontier.     The    log-   cabin 
home  near  Maquoketa.     Rafting  on   the  Maquoketa  river, 
and  a  cross  country  trip  to  Iowa  City. 

Chapter  IV. 
Frontier  meeting  places.     A  primitive  journey  to   Dav- 
enport in  a  road  cart.     The  Davenport  Association  and  the 
Churches  composing  it. 

Chapter  V. 
Removal  to  Davenport  in  fall  of  1842.     Revival  meetings 
at  Rock  Island.     Sketch  of  Judge  John  F.  Dillon. 

Chapter  VI. 
Location  at  LeClaire.     An  eventful  trip  to  Mt.  Pleasant. 
Indians  and  prairie  fires.     Buffalo  Bill.     The  brick   house 
on  the  prairie  of  Scott  county. 

Chapter  VII. 
Relocation  at  Maquoketa  in  fall  of  1847.     The  home  there 
and  the  Maquoketa  Academy.     Failing  health. 

Chapter  VIII, 
Death  by  drowning  of  oldest  son,  and  of  Nelson  Walker, 
a  nephew.     The  return  to  New  York  in   May,  1851.     Hol- 
land Patent,  Russia,  Norwa}'. 

Chapter  IX. 
Fenner,  Madison  county.     Gaines  and  Murray,  Orleans 


count}',  and  the  return  to  Iowa  in  July,  1857.  Looking  up 
a  location  in  northern  Iowa,  and  settling-  at  Vernon 
Springs  in  September. 

Chapter  X. 

Early  life  at  Vernon.  Organization  of  the  Church  and 
sketches  of  neighbors. 

Chapter  XI. 

The  war  of  the  Rebellion.  Raid  of  Sioux  Indians  in  fall 
of  1862.  McGregor  Western  Railway.  Removal  to 
Thompson,  Carroll  county,  Illinois.  Appointment  and 
service  as  Chaplain  in  the  army. 

Chapter  XII. 

Location  at  Lime  Springs,  Howard  county,  in  1870. 
Death  by  accident  of  son  George  L.  Brown,  September  1, 
1871.  Elected  to  State  Legislature.  An  argument  for 
reform  of  jury  system. 

Chapter  XIII. 

Death  of  Mrs.  Brown  at  Lime  Springs,  June  12,  1887. 
Breaking  up  of  the  home  and  life  with  sons.  Death  at 
Ottumwa,  July  23,  1901.     Sketches  of  wife  and  children. 

Chapter  XIV. 
Address  at  LeClaire,  July  4,  1845. 

Chapter  XV. 
Temperance  address  at  Cresco,  January  3,  1875. 

Chapter   XVI. 
Historical  address  at  Clinton,  Iowa,  September  22,  1892. 

Chapter  XVII. 

Extract  from  Autobiography  of  Rev.  Phillip  Perry 
Brown,  with  sketches  of  his  children. 

Chapter  XVIII. 
Family  records. 


LIST  OF  ILIA'S TR A  TIONS, 

Rev.  atid  Mrs.  Charles  E.  Brown Frontispiece 


Baptist     Parsonafjfo,    Norway,    Herkimer   \ 

County,  New  York ' '.    Following 

I  Page     10 

Baptist  Church,  Norway I 


Baptist  Church,  Russia,  New  York 54 

Rev.    and    Mrs.    Charles    E.    Brown    and 

children,   George   and  Will,  July,  1857 60 

Iowa  River  at  L<ime  Springs,  Iowa 1 

Iowa  River  on  C.  C.  Hewitt's  farm  near   \  

lyime  Springs J 


Pasture    on   farm    pre-empted   by   C.    C.  1 

Hewitt  in  1S55 "' "2 


Scene  on  C.  C.  Hewitt  farm j 

FIVE    GENERATIONS 

Esq.  M    M.   Marsh ) 

Mrs.  C.  C.  Hewitt.     Mrs.  W.  C.  Brown.  .  .  !    74 

Mrs.  Frank  E.  Pierce ] 

Master  William  Brown  Pierce J 

The  old  Home;    Stone  house  built  at  Ver-  1 


non  Springs  in  1858 )- 

School  House  and  old  Home,  Vernon j 


80 


School  house  at  Vernon  Springs 86 


I 


Home    of    Father    Brown    in    Ottumwa,  1     Following- 


Iowa,  where  he  died 

I^ast   home   in    Lime   Springs,  of  Father   j 

and  Mother  Brown 

Home  of  C.  C.  Hewitt,  in   Lime  Springs,    !' 

where  W.  C.    Brown   and    Ella    Hewitt    I 

were  married  in  June,  1874 ' 

Remodeled    Home    in    Lime    Springs,   of 

Father  and  Mother  Brown 1 


Page 


88 


Hill's    Mill    on    Iowa    River    near    Lime 
Springs 


Monument  on  Family  lot  in  Cemetery  at 
Lime  Springs,  Iowa 


Family  burial  lot  of  Stephen  W.  Brown 
at  Little  Falls,  Herkimer  County,  New 
York 


96 


102 


104 


FAMILY    PORTRAITS 

Rev.  George  W.  Fall 

Miss  Adeline  P.  Fall,  August,  1866 

Mrs.  Charles  P.  Brown,  1871 

Charles  P.  Brown,  1863 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  P.  Brown,  1892.... 

and  Edith,  1885 

Louise,  Frances,  Edith  and  Ben,  children 

of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles  P.  Brown 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lester  M.  Linton 


106 


James  D.  Brown 

Mrs.  James  D.  Brown 

George  E  Brown  and  wife.. 
Miss  Vinnie  France*  Brown 
Frank  Logan  Brown 


110 


William  C.  Brown 

Mrs.  William  C.   Brown 

Miss  Marg-aret  Heddeiis  Brown. 

Margaret 

Margaret  and  Bertha 

Dr.  Frank  E.  Pierce 

Mrs.  Frank  EJ.  Pierce  

William  Brown  Pierce 

Bertha 

Dr.  Kellogg  Speed 

Mrs.  Kellogg  Speed 


Following 
Page 


120 


Rev.  Phillip  Perry  Brown 

Betsy  Dickey,    Mrs.  Phillip  Perry  Brown 

Rev.  William  Brown 

Phillip  Perry  Brown,  Jr 

A.  J.  Brown 

Wilbur  M .  Brown 


178 


REV.   AND    MRS.    CHAS.    E.    BROWN 


Sa  in t  Jos eph ,  Mis s  o it ri, 
February  2p'd,  iSgj, 

At  the  request  of  my  children,  I  zindertake 
a7i  Aiitobiog-raphy,  and  commence  it  on  this, 
my  eig^htieth  birthday. 

Imperfectly  kept  diaries  will  furnish  sojne 
data,  but  recollections  must  coyne  principally 
from  memory^ s  store. 


-  Chapter  I. 

I  was  born  in  Augusta,  Oneida  County, 
New  York,  February  23,  1813.  My  father, 
Phillip  Perry  Brown,  was  born  m  Bennington, 
Vermont,  September  17,  1790,  and  died  in 
Madison,  Madison  County,  New  York,  Sep- 
tember 23,  1876. 

He  was  a  Baptist  minister  and  was  for 
more  than  fifty  years  a  zealous,  faithful  and 
successful  worker  in  his  calling — as  pastor  of 
Baptist  Churches  in  central  New  York. 

His  mother,  Anna  Perry  Brown,  was  of 
the  family  of  Commodore  Oliver  Hazard  Perry, 
of  Revolutionary  fame;  though  not  closely  re- 
lated. 

My  mother,  Betsy  Dickey,  was  born  in 
Wethersfield,  Vermont,  October  23,  1788,  and 
died  in  Hamilton,  New  York,  April  2nd,  1862. 

Her  father  was  a  Scotch  Irishman,  who 
came  from  Londonderry,  North  Ireland  to 
Londonderry,  New  Hampshire,  before  the 
revolutionary  war.  She  was  an  exemplary 
Christian  woman  and  a  devoted,  loving  wife 
and  mother.  • 

I  was  the  second  of  a  family  of  nine  chil- 
dren, six  sons  and  three  daughters,  of  whom 


4 

only  three  are  now  living*,  myself,  a  brother 
and  sister. 

Before  my  recollection  my  parents  moved 
from  Aug-usta  to  Smithiield,  in  Madison 
County. 

This  was  a  new  and  heavily  timbered  coun- 
try, and  here,  amid  the  privations  and  hard- 
ships of  pioneer  life  with  limited  means,  we 
lived  until  my  eig-hteenth  year. 

The  maple  forest  furnished  us  with  suo-ar 
and  syrup.  Wheat  flour  was  something  of  a 
luxury.  Wild  game  from  the  timber  and  trout 
from  the  streams  supplied  meat  for  the  table. 

Spelling-  schools,  apple  paring's,  coasting, 
and  the  usual  g-ames  of  a  pioneer  farming-  com- 
munity were  our  youthful  sports. 

The  family  was  healthy  and  the  services 
of  the  neighborhood  doctor  were  very  seldom 
needed. 

In  the  fall  of  1829,  my  father  became  pastor 
of  the  Baptist  Church  at  Augusta. 

During  the  summer  and  fall  of  1831  I  worked 
for  Danforth  Armour  on  his  farm,  at  the  sum- 
mit of  what  was  known  as  the  "Mile  Hill" — 
the  grade  beginning  at  Leland's  Tavern,  the 
five  chimney  house.  The  Lelands'  became  in 
time  wealthy  and  well  known  keepers  of 
famous  hotels.  Near  the  top  of  the  Mile  Hill 
the  road  forked,  the  main  road  running-  south- 
west and  the  other  due  west. 


The  Armour  farm  la}^  along-  the  south  side 
of  the  west  road,  west  of  the  Peterboro  turn- 
pike. The  house,  one  and  a  half-story  frame, 
unpainted,  contained  three  small  rooms  below 
and  a  bed  room  and  store  room  above. 

The  larg-e,  old-fashioned  chimney  and  fire 
place  was  in  one  end  with  a  ladder  alongside 
leading-  to  the  room  above. 

The  family  consisted  of  the  parents,  two 
little  boys,  Simeon  and  Watson  in  dresses, 
and  a  little  girl  baby  in  the  mother's  arms. 
The  following-  year  a  third  boy  was  born, 
who  was  named  Phillip. 

The  home,  though  humble,  was  a  very  happy 
one. 

Danforth  Armour's  parents  came  from 
New  England  to  New  York  at  an  early  day. 
New  York  at  that  time  was  "out  west."  Many 
years  later  Danforth  returned  to  Connecticut 
to  find  a  helpmate — Miss  Julia  A.  Brooks, 
daughter  of  a  well  to  do  Yankee  farmer. 

I  feel  that  the  incidents  above  related  are 
worthy  of  special  notice  when  I  realize  the 
good  influence  exerted  in  the  west  by  the 
three  sons  of  Danforth  Armour  during  the 
past  twenty-five  years. 

Phillip  D.  Armour,  Simeon  B.  Armour  and 
Allison  W.  Armour  have  honored  the  name 
they   bear,     the   place    that   gave  them  birth. 


6 

and  the  sturdy  New  En<»-land  stock  from  which 
they  spruno*. 

I  was  paid  thirty-two  dollars  in  cash  for  my 
four  months*  woriv  on  the  Armour  farm. 
Within  a  week  from  the  time  I  o;ot  the  money, 
I  met  an  acquaintance  who  knew  of  its  receipt 
and  wanted  to  borrow  just  that  amount.  He 
plead  so  earnestly  and  made  such  fair  promises 
to  repay  soon  that  I  let  him  have  it,  and  at 
this  time  the  amount  is  still  due  and  unpaid, 
principal  and  interest. 

Late  in  the  fall  of  1831  I  w^ent  to  Augfusta 
to  learn  the  tanning-,  currN^ng- and  shoemaking- 
business  with  Hazard  Wilbur,  a  deacon  of  my 
father's  church. 

At  a  revival  meeting*  in  September  1832,  I 
with  many  others,  became  a  Christian,  and 
was  baptized  by  my  father.  Soon  after  I 
became  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  it 
was  my  duty  to  preach  the  gospel,  and  a  few 
weeks  later  I  began  at  the  Hamilton  Literary 
and  Theological  Seminary  a  course  of  study 
to  prepare  for  the  ministry. 

In  the  spring-  of  1833,  Professor  Daniel 
Hascall  opened  at  Florence,  Oneida  County,  a 
manual  labor  school,  which  I  entered.  During- 
school  term — out  of  school  hours,  my  room 
mate  joined  me  in  cutting  down  trees  and 
chopping-  them  into  logs,  which  during-  vaca- 
tion w^e  hauled  with  a  yoke  of  cattle,  hired  for 


7 

the  purpose,  and  the  land  cleared  in  this  way, 
helped  to  defray  part  of  the  cost  of  our  educa- 
tion. 

I  tauo-ht  school  two  winters,  tliat  of  1834-5, 
at  Pittston,  Luzerne  County,  Pennsylvania, 
at  the  head  of  the  Wyoming-  Valley. 

Across  the  Susquehanna  River  in  sig^ht  of 
Pittston,  occurred  the  Wyoming-  massacre  of 
the  settlers  by  British  Tories  and  Indians  in 
July  1778.  One  of  the  little  g'irl  captives 
carried  away  by  the  Indians  was  Francis 
Slocum,  and  among  my  pupils  was  a  young 
lady  who  was  her  niece.  Pifty-seven  years 
passed  and  no  intelligence  had  ever  been  re- 
ceived of  the  captives.  Some  years  after  this 
she  was  found  in  Indiana  with  the  remnant  of 
a  tribe,  the  wife  of  an  Indian,  and  mother  of 
g-rown  children.  A  brother  and  sister  from 
Pennsylvania  visited  the  tribe  and  endeavored 
to  induce  her  to  return  and  spend  the  remain- 
der of  her  life  with  them;  but  she  refused, 
prefering  to  stay  with  her  children. 

In  March  1838,  I  held  a  revival  meeting-  in 
Deacon  Holdrege's  school  house  in  the  town 
of  Frankfort,  Herkimer  County,  a  few  miles 
west  of  Frankfort  village.  Father  Harvey,  a 
licensed  preacher  104  years  old,  was  a  good 
helper  at  these  meetings.  His  wife  by  sec- 
ond marriage,  was  so  much  younger  than  him- 
self, her  family  opposed  the  marriage  for  the 


8 

reason  that  she  would  soon  have  a  helpless  old 
man  to  care  for.  But  she  became  old  and 
feeble,  and  Father  Harvey,  much  smarter  and 
more  active,  had  her  to  care  for,  which  he  did 
with  the  utmost  love  and  tenderness. 

As  in  his  young-er  days,  the  first  thing-  on 
rising-  in  the  pulpit  was  to  take  off  his  coat.  I 
love  to  recall  those  school  house  revivals  with 
Father  Harvey  in  his  chair  in  front  of  the 
desk  and  his  tender  heart-moving"  voice  in 
prayer  and  exhortation. 

During-  April  and  May  1838,  in  the  absence 
of  Elder  Thomas  Houston,  the  pastor,  I 
preached  m  the  Baptist  Church  at  Frankfort. 
At  this  time  my  father,  then  pastor  of  the 
Litchfield  Church,  was  engag-ed  in  a  revival  at 
Little  Falls.  The  meeting-s  were  interesting 
and  powerful,  and  I  went  down  to  witness  the 
display  of  God's  saving*  mercy  and  help  in  the 
g-ood  work. 

From  Frankfort  to  Little  Falls,  twelve 
miles,  w^as  my  first  ride  on  a  railroad.  The 
rails  were  of  wood,  with  strap  iron  about  the 
width  and  thickness  of  a  wag-on  tire  spiked 
on.  The  coaches  contained  two  compartments 
with  cross  seats,  passengers  on  one  seat 
riding  backwards.  The  conductor  while  col- 
lecting tickets,  walked  on  a  plank  outside 
holding  onto  a  hand  rail  under  the  eaves  of  the 
coaches. 


Arriving-  at  Little  Falls  I  went  directly  to 
the  church  where  services  were  beingf  held. 
After  church  I  was  invited  to  the  home  of 
Stephen  W.  Brown,  then  Sheriff  of  Herkimer 
County,  a  leading-  merchant  and  business 
man,  with  the  understanding-  that  I  would  be 
entertained  there  during  my  stay.  Meeting- 
with  a  very  cordial  reception,  I  soon  felt  at 
home  with  Mr.  Brown's  family,  which  con- 
sisted of  himself  and  wife,  and  Georg-e  D. 
and  Frances  Lyon,  brother  and  sister  of  Mrs. 
Brown.  Thoug-h  of  the  same  name,  we  were 
not  related,  and  this  was  my  first  visit  to 
Little  Falls. 

Mr.  George  Lyon  had  for  some  time  been  a 
member  of  the  Baptist  Church,  and  his  sister 
Frances,  whom  I  met  there  for  the  first  time, 
and  who  became  in  the  fall  following-  my  loved 
and  honored  companion  in  the  journey  of  life; 
was  a  very  bright  and  interesting-  convert  of 
the  revival  then  in  prog-ress.  I  have  always 
felt  that  this  meeting-  and  its  results  was 
kindly  directed  by  an  over-ruling-  and  all-wise 
providence. 

Rev.  J.  W.  Olmsted,  long-  the  able  and  influ- 
ential editor  of  the  Watchman  of  Boston, 
was  the  beloved  pastor  of  the  Little  Falls 
Baptist  Church  at  this  time. 

With  a  class  of  about  twenty-five,  I  finished 
the  course  at  Hamilton,   July  15th,   1838    and 


10 

on  the  20th  of  September  at  Litchfield  where 
my  father  was  pastor,  I  was  re^rularly  or- 
dained to  the  work  of  preaching-  the  gfospel. 

On  September  26th  in  the  Baptist  Church 
at  Little  Falls,  Rev.  Augustus  Beach  officia- 
tinof,  I  was  married  to  Prances  Lyon. 

Throug-h  the  influence  of  my  brother  Will- 
iam, then  pastor  of  the  Baptist  Church  at 
Newport,  I  had  been  invited  to  visit  the 
church  at  Norway,  Herkimer  County,  which 
resulted  in  a  call  to  the  pastorate. 

Earh^  in  November  w^e  began  housekeeping- 
in  the  Norway  parsonage,  with  the  untried  re- 
sponsibility of  pastoral  work  on  a  salary  of 
$275.00  a  year  and  the  use  of  the  parsonage. 

Through  the  very  kind  and  generous  assist- 
ance of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stephen  W.  Brown  we 
had  a  plain  but  sufficient  outfit  for  house- 
keeping. 


Chapter  II. 

For  reasons  that  at  the  time  seemed  suf- 
ficient, we  remained  but  eig-hteen  months  in 
Norway. 

Two  of  the  deacons  objected  to  the  pastor 
using-  the  same  text  for  morning*  and  after- 
noon services  presenting-  different  branches 
of  the  subject,  the  object  being-  to  avoid  long- 
sermons. 

Not  knowing-  what  the  outcome  of  their 
opposition  mig-ht  be,  I  quietly  resig-ned,  leav- 
ing- the  church  in  peace  and  harmony. 

Precious  revival  influences  were  enjoyed 
during-  our  stay,  twenty-nine  being-  baptized, 
but  not  all  into  the  Norway  church. 

On  July  30,  1839,  at  the  Norway  parsonag-e, 
our  first  child  was  born,  a  little  boy,  who 
was  named  Benjamin  Perry. 

Early  in  March  1839,  I  went  by  appoint- 
ment to  visit  the  church  in  Morehouseville, 
Hamilton  County,  twenty  miles  north  of  Nor- 
way, in  the  primeval  forest  then  known  as  the 
Great  North  Woods,  now  the  Adirondack 
reg-ion. 

I    found  there  a  few  worthy  members  and 

111] 


12 

at  once  l)e<^an  revival  meetinj^s  in  the  school 
house. 

Oh,  the  precious  seasons  there  enjoyed. 
''How  sweet  their  memory  still." 

On  March  24th,  a  beautiful  bricrht  sunny 
dav,  the  snow  still  deep  in  the  wilderness — 
the  ice  bein^  cut  away  in  the  west  Canada 
creek — I  baptized  nine  in  its  clear  waters. 
In  May  followincr  I  visited  the  place  a<ifain  and 
baptized  two  more. 

I  always  enjoyed  missionary  work  in  school 
houses  and  distant  neig-hborhoods  of  my  pas- 
toral fields. 

During-  the  first  pastorate  at  Norway,  I 
visited  a  new  settlement  at  the  head  of  Pizeco 
Lake,  about  twenty  miles  beyond  Morehouse- 
ville,  in  the  almost  pathless  wilderness. 

Leaving"  Norway,  our  next  field  of  labor 
beginning-  in  April  1840,  w^as  in  the  town  of 
Warren,  in  the  southern  part  of  Herkimer 
County.  Little  could  be  accomplished  in  re- 
lig-ious  work  the  first  year  owing-  to  the  excit- 
ing- and  all-absorbing-  ''Log-  Cabin,  Hard 
Cider,  Tippecayioe  and  Tyler  too''  Presiden- 
tial campaign,  resulting-  in  the  election  of 
Harrison  and  Tyler.  But  the  following-  year 
a  g-ood  deg-ree  of  interest  was  manifested  and 
baptism  and  additions  to  the  church  member- 
ship occurred  frequently. 

A  gfrownng-  interest   in  and  love  for  pioneer 


13 

missionary     work    directed    our   thoug-hts  to 
some  new  field  of  labor  in    the    distant  West. 

At  Warren  October  30th,  1840,  our  second 
child  was  born,  a  son,  who  was  named  Charles 
Perry. 

During-  this  month  our  wish  for  missionary 
work  in  the  West  was  laid  before  the  New 
York  State  Missionary  Convention  at  its 
annual  meeting- then  in  session  at  Whitesboro. 

The  application  said  nothing  about  salary  . 
or  any  special  location,  excepting-  a  prefer- 
ence expressed  for  lotva.  The  request  was 
favorably  endorsed  by  the  convention  and  an 
appointment  by  the  American  Baptist  Home 
Missionary  Society  recommended. 

This  appointment  came  in  due  time,  desig- 
nating the  forks  of  the  Maquoketa  river  in 
Jackson  County,  Iowa,  as  the  field  of  labor, 
with  an  allowance  of  one  hundred  dollars  a 
year  from  the  board  and  seventy-five  dollars 
for  traveling  expenses  to  the  field. 

Our  family  then  consisted  of  myself,  wife 
and  the  two  little  boys,  Benjaminand  Charles. 
As  household  goods  could  not  be  economically 
shipped  so  far  we  sold  everything-  except 
clothing-,  bedding,  a  common  table  and  stand 
which  could  be  conveniently  packed,  and  a 
rocking  chair,  taken  for  the  comfort  and  con- 
venience of  the  mother  in  caring  for  the  little 
ones  on  the  journey. 


14 

We  boug-ht  a  small  cook  stove,  which  was 
taken  down,  packed  in  straw  and  boxed  for 
shipment.  All  told  our  household  effects 
weighed  about  1600  pounds. 

On  Monday  May  2nd,  1842,  we  left  Utica  on 
a  passeng-er  packet  known  as  a  Line  boat  on 
the  Erie  canal,  bound  for  Buffalo  en  route  to 
Iowa  territory. 

These  boats  w^ere  provided  with  a  comfort- 
able cabin  w^th  berths  for  passen^rers  in  the 
bow,  kitchen  and  dining-  cabin  at  the  stern 
and  space  amidships  for  freig^ht  and  bag-gag-e. 
With  g-ood  company,  clean  wholesome  food,  a 
sober  and  accommodating-  master  and  crew, 
the  two  hundred  mile  trip  from  Utica  to  Buf- 
falo was  comfortable  and  pleasant.  The  fare, 
two  cents  per  mile,  which  included  berth  and 
board  with  no  charg-e  for  young-  children,  was 
very  reasonable. 

Arriving-  at  Tonawanda,  twelve  miles  from 
Buffalo,  at  midnig-ht  Saturday,  we  lay  by 
until  the  next  midnig-ht,  as  the  boat  did  not 
run  on  the  Sabbath.  We  reached  Buffalo  at 
daylig-ht  Monday  May  9th,  and  the  family 
and  g-oods  were  transferred  to  the  Lake 
•steamer,  "Great  Western,"  Captain  Walker 
commanding-,  which  was  due  to  leave  that 
evening-  for  Chicag-o. 

The  shades  of  nig-ht  were  falling-  when  the 
great  steamer    with  nearly  four  hundred  pas- 


15 

seng-ers  bound  mostly  for  Illinois,  Iowa  and 
Wisconsin,  put  out  into  the  lake  for  Chicago. 
Very  few  had  ever  been  on  the  water,  and 
ominous  clouds  were  looming-  up  in  the  west. 

The  cabin  passeng-ers  g-athered  on  the  prom- 
enade deck,  some  looking-  back  on  the  lig-hts 
of  the  city  toward  the  homes  and  loved  ones 
they  were  leaving-;  some  at  the  dark  waters  of 
the  lake,  and  some  anxiously  at  the  threaten- 
ing- clouds,  many  with  tearful  eyes. 

It  was  one  of  the  most  solemn  and  intensely 
interesting-  scenes  we  ever  witnessed  and  one 
we  will  never  forg-et. 

We  retired  to  our  state  room  but  could  not 
sleep  The  storm  broke  upon  us  with  g-reat 
fury  in  the  nig-ht,  but  our  noble  steamer  met 
and  faced  it  bravely,  and  broug-ht  us  safely 
into  the  harbor  at  Cleveland,  which  was  the 
first  landing-  place. 

The  effect  of  the  nig-ht's  storm  on  the 
stomachs  of  the  passeng-ers  was  manifest  at 
breakfast,  many  being-  absent  from  the  table. 

We  lay  at  Cleveland  a  few  hours  waiting-  for 
the  storm  to  pass. 

Excepting-  a  similar  experience  on  Lake 
Huron,  compelling-  us  to  lay  by  for  four  hours 
at  Presque  Isle,  we  had  pleasant  sailing-  to 
Chicag-o,  where  we  arrived  Saturday  after- 
noon and  put  up  at  a  small  two-story  hotel 
called  the  New  York  House. 


16 

In  the  eveninj^-  we  attended  meeting  in  the 
Baptist  Church,  located  on  the  lot  where  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  now  stands,  and  heard 
a  sermon  bv  Rev.  Thomas  Powell.  The 
church  was  a  frame  building- boarded  "up  and 
down"  and  battened,  w^ithout  ceilin<^,  exposing- 
collar  beams,  rafters  and  roof  boards. 

The  Court  House  w^as  near  by  on  a  five  acre 
lot  enclosed  with  a  common  fence.  It  was  a 
small  brick  building,  located  at  the  north  side 
of  the  lot. 

The  following- letter  to  a  sister  in  New  York 
State,  written  by  Mrs.  Brown  en  route,  May 
12th-16th,  1842,  is  interesting-: 

Thqrsday,  Lake  St.  Clair, 
May  12th,  1842. 

Dear  Sister  and  Brother — 

In  accordance  with  your  request,  I  improve 
the  first  convenient  season  for  writing-  you 
some  of  the  incidents  of  our  journey  thus  far. 
We  are  on  board  the  Great  Western,  the 
most  splendid  vessel  on  the  lakes.  It  is  a 
lovely  morning,  the  lake  is  still  and  we  are 
sailing  at  the  rate  of  twelve  miles  an  hour. 
We  are  furnished  with  every  comfort  and 
convenience  that  could  be  obtained  in  the  best 
hotel.  Our  journey  has  been  pleasant,  with 
the  exception  of  some  little  sea-sickness    for 


17 

the  first  few  hours  on  "Lake  Erie.  Benny  and 
myself  have  had  a  pretty  thoroug-h  emetic. 
Mr.  B.  and  Charley  escaped  with  a  little 
nausea  of  the  stomach,  and  no  vomiting-.  We 
have  been  sailing-  up  the  Detroit  river  this 
morning  with  Victoria's  dominions  on  our 
right  hand,  and  borders  of  Michigan  on  the 
left;  passed  a  British  military  station;  saw  a 
number  of  her  Majesty's  red-coated  gentry. 
Our  steamer  stopped  some  time  at  Detroit. 
We  went  on  shore.  I  priced  articles  in  a 
number  of  dry  goods  establishments,  found  a 
handsome  assortment,  and  as  low  as  can  be 
purchased  in  New  York.  We  find  the  tide  of 
emigration  to  the  far  west  has  by  no  means 
subsided.  There  are  between  three  and  four 
hundred  passengers  on  board,  and  quite  a 
large  proportion  go  round  to  Chicago.  The 
children  have  been  less  trouble  than  I  antici- 
pated. We  left  Utica  Monday  morning  in  the 
Little  Western;  Captain  Newcomb,  a  pleas- 
ant man  and  fine  crew;  heard  no  profane 
language;  had  a  good  cook  and  good  fare, 
and  with  the  exception  of  speed  found  our- 
selves  comfortable. 

Called  on  Mrs.  Dr.  Grey,  found  her  well. 
Saw  Elon  Carpenter  and  his  wife,  and  Mrs. 
Carpenter,  Mrs.  Grey's  mother,  likewise  her 
sister,  Mrs.  Beach  and  two  daug-hters.  Called 
on  Mrs.   Lyman,  saw  her  and  her  boy.     Mr. 


18 

Lvnian  was  not  in.  Slic  li\cs  (lirc*ctl\'  ()])p()- 
site  Dr.  Grey  in  Jordan,  (juite  a  pretlv  villa<^e 
on  the  canal.  Had  the  f^j-ood  fortune  to  find 
Cousin  Francis  in  All)ion,  thouLfh  we  had  but 
a  short  time  to  visit  with  him.  He  was  well, 
in  o-ood  spirits;  says  he  is  doino-  well,  and 
desio-ns  visitin<r  Little  Palls  in  July  (tell 
friend  C.  we  shall  want  a  ofood  hatter  in  our 
cit3\  and  I  think  thev  had  better  come  on). 
Cousin  Francis  seemed  very  glad  to  see  us, 
and  said  he  would  have  g-one  on  with  us  to 
Buffalo  had  he  not  been  in  the  dye  kettle. 

We  were  detained  by  a  break  in  the  canal 
below  Rochester,  in  consequence  of  w^hich  we 
did  not  reach  Buffalo  as  soon  as  we  expected. 
The  boat  belonged  to  the  six-day  line,  and  lay 
up  at  Tonawanda,  a  villag-e  twelve  miles  be- 
low^ Buffalo,  and  spent  the  Sabbath.  A  Meth- 
odist minister  preached  in  the  morning-,  and 
Mr  B.  in  the  afternoon.  We  were  invited  to 
tea  at  the  public  house  kept  by  a  Mr.  Brig-gs, 
w^hose  wife  is  a  Baptist  On  the  whole,  spent 
the  day  quite  pleasantly.  We  were  detained 
in  Buffalo  until  Tuesday,  seven  in  the  evening- 
waiting-  for  the  sailing  of  the  vessel. 

Monday  Morning,  Chicag-o, 
May  16th,  1842- 

We  arrived  in  this  city  yesterday  afternoon 
safe  and  sound.     Our   passage    from    Buffalo, 


19 

tog-ether  with  freig-ht,  cost  us  forty-eig-ht  dol- 
lars; from  Little  Falls  to  Buffalo  twenty- 
three. 

We  had  one  day  of  roug-h  weather  on  Lake 
Huron  but  none  of  us  were  sea  sick.  I  think 
had  not  my  stomach  been  foul  I  should  have 
escaped  altog-ether.  On  the  w^hole  w^e  have 
had  a  pleasant  journey;  are  much  pleased  with 
the  appearance  of  the  western  country  so  far. 
Milwaukee,  Racine  and  Southport  on  the  Wis- 
consin shore  are  pleasant  villag-es.  We  passed 
Mackinaw  in  the  nig-ht,  reg'retted  it  very 
much,  as  it  is  said  to  be  a  very  interesting 
spot. 

We  are  at  the  New  York  House  in  Chicag-o. 
There  were  eig-hty  people  at  breakfast;  very 
g-ood  accommodations;  have  plenty  of  radishes, 
onions,  lettuce,  etc, 

Mr.  B  is  making-  arrang-ements  for  prose- 
cuting- our  journey  to  Iowa.  The  weather  is 
fine  and  the  roads  g-ood,  and  we  hope  to  g-et 
along-  without  any  difficulty. 

Benny  talks  about  Aunt  Brown  and  baby 
Georg-e,  Pred,  Aunt  Mary  and  all  the  friends 
he  has  left  behind.  I  cannot  realize  the  dis- 
tance that  separates  us.  It  seems  to  be  anni- 
hilated by  the  facilities  for  overcoming-  it.  I 
think  to  come  by  railroad  from  Little  Falls  to 
Buffalo,  and  then  by  the  lakes  to  Chicag-o, 
would  make  a  delig-htful  jaunt.  Take  an 
emetic  before  you  leave. 


20 

We  shall  hope  to  see  you  next  season,  I 
think  the  first  of  June  or  last  of  May  would  be 
about  the  rij^ht  time  to  leave. 

A  very  g-enteel  family  from  the  city  of  Phil- 
adelphia are  just  leaving  for  the  country. 

We  shall  soon  be  on  the  load  teamino-  oif. 
Remember  us  affectionately  to  all  friends — 
Chloe,  Mrs.  Green,  the  doctor.  Dr.  Brown,  all 
the  irood  brothers  and  sisters  in  the  church. 

I  just  sent  to  the  office  hopino-  for  a  letter 
or  papers  from  home,  found  none.  Let  us 
hear  from  you  at  our  home,  Nelson  has  the 
direction. 

Love  agfain  to  all. 

Yours  in  haste, 

Frances. 

Mrs.  S.  W.  Brown,  Little  Falls,  ) 
Herkimer  County,  N.  Y.  f 

On  Monday  we  found  a  man  from  Rockford, 
Illinois,  who  came  in  with  a  lumber  wa^^on 
and  a  load  of  produce  and  eno-ag-ed  him  to  take 
us  to  Savanna,  on  the  Mississippi  river.  After 
loading-  our  thino-s,  the  rocking-  chair  brougfht 
from  New  York  was  fastened  on  top  of  one  of 
the  boxes  with  a  small  chair  secured  along-- 
side. 

Seated  in  the  rocker  with  the  young-est 
child  in  her  lap,  and  the  other  in  the  little 
chair  by   her  side  Mrs.   Brown  cheerily  said, 


21 

"Now,  this  is  fine,"  and  there  was  sunshine 
on  the  load  all  the  way  throug-h. 

I  took  a  seat  on  the  box  beside  the  driver 
with  our  feet  on  the  whiffle-trees,  and  we 
started  on  our  two  hundred  mile  drive  to 
our  future  home   in  the  territory  of  Iowa. 

A  dry  spring-  fortunately  saved  us  the 
trouble  of  pryino-  our  wag-on  out  of  the  mud  in 
the  streets  of  Chicag-o. 

We  stopped  for  the  first  nig-ht  about  twelve 
miles  out  on  the  Elg-in  road,  and  the  second  at 
a  small  log*  cabin  at  Pig-eon  Woods,  sixteen 
miles  west  of  Elg-in,  where  a  hearty  appetite 
for  supper  was  demoralized  by  badly  tainted 
ham;  and  the  presence  of  two  loads  of  stag-e 
coach  passeng-ers  to  be  cared  for  oblig-ed  us 
to  sleep  on  the  floor.  But  these  incidents 
were  minor  matters  in  a  journey  like  this. 

Early  next  morning-,  proceeding-  on  our  way 
we  found  a  satisfactory  breakfast  at  a  small 
cabin  located  where  the  town  of  Mareng-o  now 
stands.  At  noon  we  reached  Belvidere,  where 
we  enjo3'ed  a  visit  with  Prof.  P.  S.  Whitman 
who  was  one  of  my  teachers  at  Hamilton. 
Here  on  the  public  square  we  saw  the  stakes 
used  to  support  a  rude  platform  which  had 
been  the  resting-  place  of  the  body  of  an 
Indian  chief.  The  body  was  g-one  but  the 
poles  and    some  frag-ments  of  hisburial  dress 


22 

were  there,  a  dismal  and  orewsome  reminder 
of  the  past. 

That  evening-  we  arrived  at  the  west  side 
tavern  at  Rockford  where,  to  our  great  disap- 
pointment, our  teamster  was  summoned  as  a 
witness  in  a  case  on  trial,  delaying-  us  until 
the  following-  Monday.  But  while  tarrying* 
we  found  a  g-ood  home  and  pleasant  friends  in 
the  family  of  the  Rev.  Solomon  Knapp,  pastor 
of  the  Baptist  Church  at  Rockford,  for  whom 
I  preached  on  Sunday;  my  first  sermon  in  the 
west. 

Monday  morning",  in  g-ood  health  and  spirits, 
with  fine  weather  and  roads  we  continued  our 
journey,  taking-  the  Galena  stag-e  road  to 
Twelve  Mile  Grove,  thence  turning*  directly 
west  for  the  Mississippi. 

About  sun  down  w^e  reached  Crane's  g-rove, 
and  as  the  next  stopping-  place  was  eig-hteen 
miles  west,  here  we  must  put  up  for  the 
nig-ht.  Mrs.  Crane  from  Kentucky,  middle 
ag-ed  and  stout,  was  just  coming-  from  the 
cow  yard  with  a  pail  of  milk.  To  our  inquiry 
if  we  could  stop  for  the  nig'ht  she  replied, 
"Oh,  I  reckon,  thoug-h  I  am  mig-hty  tired. 
The  old  cow  g-ives  a  rig-ht  smart  of  milk,  well 
on  to  half  a  bushel." 

That  night  our  teamster  overfed  his  horses 
with  gfrain  and  next  morning-  found  one  of 
them  dead.     We  arrang-ed  with  Mr.  Crane  to 


23 

take  us  eig-hteen  miles  to  Cherry  grove,  where 
we  stopped  with  a  Mr.  Gardner,  Mr.  Crane's 
brother-in-law,  who  next  day  took  us  to  Savan- 
na on  the  Mississippi.  We  here  had  our  first 
view  of  the  mighty  river,  its  volume  then  being- 
much  greater  than  in  later  years.  That  even- 
ing we  were  ferried  across  to  Charleston,  now 
Sabula,  and  put  up  for  the  night  at  the  town 
tavern.  In  the  morning-  eng-ag-ed  a  man  and 
team  to  take  us  the  remaining  twenty-five  to 
thirty  miles  to  the  end  of  our  long  journey. 

Owing  to  rain  we  were  late  in  starting. 
About  noon  stopped  for  dinner  at  a  cabin  on 
the  west  bank  of  Deep  Creek,  where  we  found 
nothing  to  eat  but  eggs.  Of  these  they  had 
eleven,  which  were  boiled  for  us. 

The  children  would  not  eat  them.  We  did 
not  see  any  other  human  habitation  until  night 
had  fallen,  when  the  little  ones,  tired  and 
hungry,  had  long-  since  cried  themselves  to 
sleep. 

In  the  darkness  of  midnight  we  reached  a 
cabin  occupied  by  Mr.  C.  W.  Doolittle,  when 
at  that  spectral  hour,  in  silence  and  solitude 
that  could  be  felt,  we  were  at  the  end  of  our 
long  journey,  nearly  a  thousand  miles  from 
home  and  friends  in  the  distant  east.  The 
Indian  had  recently  left,  and  his  pale  faced 
successors  were  few  and  far  between. 

We  had  been  twenty-four  days  on  the  road 


24 

and  had  lost  but  little  time,  havin<»-  diligently 
pursued  our  way  from  the  start.  It  is  one  of 
the  wonders  of  a  marvelous  a^e  to  realize  that 
the  distance  can  now  be  made  in  less  than 
twentv-foiir  hours  in  luxurious  ease  and  com- 
fort and  that  this  is  actually  done  every  day. 
With  cordial  frontier  hospitality  which  we 
g-ratefully  appreciated,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Doolittle 
turned  out  and  welcomed  us,  prepared  supper 
and  then  g-ave  us  their  bed,  while  they  found 
lodg-ing-  for  themselves  and  family  in  the  cabin 
loft.  Tired  and  worn  by  the  long-  and  tedious 
last  day's  drive  we  slept  sweetly  and  soundly, 
four  in  the  bed,  myself,  wife  and  two  children. 


Chapter  III. 

Arriving-  in  the  nig-ht  we  could  see  nothing- 
of  the  near  by  country,  and  owing-  to  a  dense 
fog-  nothing-  was  visible  next  morning-. 

After  breakfast,  accompanied  by  Brother 
Doolittle,  I  called  on  some  neig-hboring  fami- 
lies two  miles  to  the  southwest. 

Upon  inquiry  I  found  to  my  surprise  that 
there  was  no  church  or  organized  Baptist 
society.  The  settlement  was  very  new,  with 
a  few  Baptist  families  widely  scattered.  This 
and  the  fog-,  and  the  fact  that  aside  from  the 
$100  per  year  from  the  home  missionary  board, 
our  living-  was  to  come  from  our  field  of  labor 
was  rather  discouraging-  and  made  me  feel  a 
little  blue. 

But  during  our  walk  a  breeze  came  up  and 
carried  away  the  fog.  The  clouds  lifted  and 
the  sun  came  out,  revealing  a  most  beautiful 
prairie  country  to  the  south,  with  a  grand  body 
of  Moquaketa  timber  to  the  north  for  a  back- 
ground. My  blues  went  with  the  fog;  hope, 
couragfe  and  cheer  came  with  the  sunshine  and 
clear  sky.  But  how  would  my  dear  wife  feel, 
for  I  knew,  and    she    knew,  that  the  privation 

L25] 


26 

and  hardship  of  a  new  country  would  fall  most 
heavily  on  the  wife  and  mother  in  the  little  log* 
cabin  home. 

Doubt  was  soon  removed,  for  on  my  return 
she  met  me  near  the  house  with  a  bright  and 
cheerful  face  saying-,  "Charles,  we  came  to 
Iowa  to  do  good  and  we  will  stay  and  trust  in 
the  Lord." 

Oh,  how  welcome  was  that  g-reeting.  We 
had  faith  in  God's  promise:  "Trust  in  the 
Lord  and  do  good;  so  shalt  thou  dwell  in  the 
land,  and  verily  thou  shalt  be  fed." 

We  arrived  at  the  cabin  of  Brother  Doolittle 
at  midnight  on  Thursday,  May  26,  1842.  The 
Baptist  families  and  settlers  g-enerally  g-aveus 
a  very  cordial  welcome. 

A  meeting-  was  to  be  held  at  Iowa  City  June 
3rd  to  org-anize  a  Territorial  Missionary  Con- 
vention, and  I  desired  to  attend.  Iowa  City 
was  about  a  hundred  miles  to  the  southw^est 
and  there  w^as  no  roads  to  mention  and  very 
few  settlers  on  the  route. 

Bro.  Doolittle's  family  was  larg-e  and  we 
found  a  temporary  home  with  Bro.  Levi 
Decker.  Sister  Decker  very  kindly  proposed 
•to  care  for  our  little  ones  and  allow  Mrs. 
Brown  to  g-o  with  me  to  Iowa  City,  an  arrang-e- 
ment  we  were  g-lad  to  make.  Procuring  a 
horse  and  lig-ht  wagon  of  Brother  Doolittle, 
we  set  out  on  the  morning-  of  June  1st,  taking- 


27 

a  trail  that  led  to  what  was  known  as  Ber- 
g-oon's  ford  across  the  Wasepinecon  river 
some  twenty-five  miles  away.  We  soon  lost 
the  dim  uncertain  trail,  but  having-  a  good 
general  idea  of  the  direction  did  not  miss  our 
way.  The  weather  was  fine,  the  prairies  car- 
peted with  wild  flowers,  and  the  trip  novel 
and  wonderfully  interesting-.  The  broad  ex- 
panse of  rolling  prairies  extending-  in  every 
direction  as  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  with 
now  and  then  a  beautiful  grove  to  relieve  the 
monotony,  was  a  g-reat  change  from  the  hills, 
valleys  and  heavy  timber  of  our  central  New 
York  home. 

Nearing  the  Wapsy  settlement  we  came 
onto  a  prairie  creek,  narrow  and  deep  with 
abrupt  banks.  How  to  cross  was  a  prob- 
lem. But  we  were  nearly  twenty  miles  on 
our  road  and  would  not  turn  back.  Helping 
Mrs.  Brown  across  with  our  bag-g-ag-e  I  started 
far  enough  away  from  the  creek  to  g-et  the 
horse  on  a  smart  trot,  and  as  he  came  to  the 
bank  gave  him  a  sharp  blow  with  the  whip  at 
the  same  time  jumping-  out.  Over  he  went, 
scattering-  thing's,  but  nothing-  was  broken  or 
damaged.  We  stopped  for  dinner  at  the  little 
cabin  of  a  settler  not  far  beyond  the  creek. 
An  early  start  and  the  long-  June  day's  drive 
broug-ht  us  to  Tipton,  the  county  seat  of 
Cedar  Countv,  for  the  night.     We  found  there 


28 

a  log"  cabin  hotel  and  a  loo-  court  house.  Leav- 
ino-  appointments  for  preachin<^-  at  Tipton  and 
the  Wapsy  crossino-  settlement  on  our  return 
trip,  and  o-etting- an  early  start  and  niai<in«-a 
long-  drive,  we  reached  Iowa  City  on  the  even- 
ing of  the  second  day. 

At  this  time  there  were  no  railroads  west 
of  the  State  of  New  York.  The  western 
boundary  of  lands  to  which  the  Indian  title 
had  been  extinguished  by  treaty  and  purchase 
and  which  were  open  to  settlement,  was  only 
eighteen  miles  from  Iowa  City.  The  counties 
bordering  on  this  west  line  were  Van  Buren, 
Jefferson,  Washington,  Johnson,  Linn,  Buch- 
anan, Fayette  and  Clayton. 

It  was  ofood  to  meet  the  brethren  and  sis- 
ters  from  different  and  distant  parts  of  the 
territory.  Business  was  soon  and  easily  at- 
tended to,  and  the  last  three  days  were  occu- 
pied with  preaching  and  devotional  services. 
Returning  we  filled  the  Tipton  appointment 
Monday,  and  at  the  Wapsy  settlement  the  next 
day,  arriving  home  that  night. 

Our  next  important  temporal  affair  was  to 
select  a  location  and  build  a  log  house.  Tim- 
ber being  plenty  and  saw  mills  scarce,  houses 
were  generally  of  logs. 

Becoming  acquainted  with  the  people  at 
Wright's  Corners,  two  and  one-half  miles 
south    of   the    present  site  of  Maquoketa,  we 


29 

decided  to  locate  there.  Our  neig-hbors  were, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Samuel  Wrig-ht,  Alfred  Wrig-ht, 
Levi  Decker,  John  Rig-g-s,  David  Bentley  and 
others,  and  better  people  we  need  not  ask  for. 
They  very  g-enerously  turned  out  with  teams 
and  axes  and  cut  and  hauled  log's  from  a  g^rove 
a  few  miles  west  for  a  cabin  12  x  18  feet. 
The  log's  were  hewn  on  two  sides,  and  in  a 
fortnig-ht  the  body  of  the  house  was  up.  Some 
sawed  lumber  was  necessary,  and  Mr.  John 
Rig-g-s  joining-  me,  we  went  to  a  saw  mill  at 
Canton,  eig-hteen  miles  above,  on  the  Maquo- 
keta  river.  Going-  on  foot  to  Canton  we 
boug-ht  the  lumber,  made  a  raft  of  it  and 
started  down  the  river  throug-h  a  dense  wilder- 
ness. 

The  undergrowth  was  thick  in  the  heavy 
timber,  with  but  few  clearing's,  the  river  low, 
and  snag-s  and  sand  bars  g-ave  us  much  trouble 
making-  our  prog-ress  slow.  At  sundown  of 
the  first  day  we  came  to  the  hut  of  an  old 
hermit  named  Lodg-e.  The  next  clearing-  and 
cabin  were  miles  below\  We  were  hung-ry 
and  wet.  It  was  unseasonably  cold,  and  nig-ht 
with  Eg-yptian  darkness  was  coming-  on  in 
that  narrow  stream,  w^ith  its  heavy  timber 
and  underg-rowth.  But  Lodg-e's  cabin  was  a 
wretched  place,  shared  by  a  chicken  pen  and 
afforded  no  accommodation.  There  was  noth- 
ing- to  do  but  g-o  on  and  that  we  did. 


30 

It  soon  became  so  dark  we  could  not 
see  each  other  on  the  raft  and  nothino-  of  the 
river  or  our  vveiy,  but  by  ^ood  fortune,  snagfs, 
sand  bars  and  the  rixer  banks  were  avoided. 
In  fact  we  went  better  in  the  darkness  than 
we  had  in  the  daylig-ht.  A  break  in  the  for- 
est o-iving-  a  g-limpse  of  the  sky  told  us  when 
the  next  clearing-  was  reached  about  eleven 
o'clock. 

Neither  habitation  or  lig-hts  were  visible, 
but  a  hail  brought  a  response.  We  found  a 
comfortable  cabin  with  a  cheerful  and  most 
welcome  open  fire.  Getting  some  bread  and 
milk  for  supper,  the  next  want  was  a  place  to 
sleep.  There  were  in  the  small  room  three 
beds  all  fully  occupied.  But  two  men  in  a 
bed  on  the  floor  very  kindly  proposed  to  lie 
cross-ways  and  make  room  for  us  and  we 
turned  in,  and  being  very  tired,  slept  soundly. 

The  next  day  completed  the  river  part  of 
our  journey,  and  a  three  mile  haul  to  the  south 
brought  our  lumber  to  its  destination. 
Wright's  Corners  were  on  the  line  between 
Jackson  and  Clinton  Counties,  and  our  cabin 
was  about  twenty  rods  from  the  line,  in  Clin- 
ton County,  on  the  east  side  of  the  north  and 
south  road,  with  the  east  branch  of  Prairie 
Creek  in  front  on  the  west,  the  road  running- 
between  the  cabin  and  the  creek. 

With    rough   loose    boards   for  floors  above 


31 

and  below  we  moved  in,  without  doors  or 
windows,  and  I  went  forty  miles  to  Dubuque 
for  some  stove  pipe.  But  settled  in  our  own 
home,  thoug-h  scantily  furnished  with  table, 
stand,  rocking-  and  small  chair  and  a  few 
dishes,  we  were  contented  and  happy. 

Our  first  bedstead  was  of  hickory  poles.  A 
few  carpenters'  tools  fortunately  broug-ht 
along-  provided  means  for  making*  many  useful 
articles  of  furniture  out  of  the  boxes  in  which 
our  g-oods  were  packed,  such  as  a  cupboard 
for  dishes,  another  for  books,  and  a  bed  for 
the  oldest  boy 


Chapter  IV. 

With  our  neit^hbors  we  at  once  bej^an  work 
on  a  lo<>'  school  house,  a  few  rods  south  of  our 
cabin,  where  without  floor,  doors  or  windows, 
we  opened  a  Sunday  School.  A  Mr.  Thomas 
Plathers  was  made  superintendent.  This  was 
the  first  school  house  in  Clinton  County  and 
there  was  none  in  Jackson  County,  and  it  was 
used  by  me  as  a  meeting*  house  for  preaching" 
and  other  relig-ious  services. 

Six  miles  west,  at  the  house  of  Brother  Earl 
was  another  place  where  meetings  were  reg^u- 
larly  held.  There  was  in  Brother  Earl's 
house  no  stove  or  fire-place.  Fire  for  warm- 
ing- and  cooking-  was  built  on  the  g-round  in  the 
middle  of  one  room.  An  opening-  was  left  in 
the  roof  to  let  out  the  smoke,  but  it  did  not 
all,  or  always,  g-o  out  of  this  opening',  and  my 
cong-reg-ation  was  often  in  tears  over  the 
omission. 

Another  appointment  was  at  a  cabin  on  a 
ridg-e  twelve  miles  in  the  timber.  Here  a  day 
or  two  before  one  of  my  visits  the  owner 
killed  a  monster  panther  which  was  after  one 
of  his  hog-s. 

[32] 


33 

My  first  sermon  in  Iowa  was  in  the  un- 
finished log-  cabin  of  John  Shaw,  where  Ma- 
quoketa  now  stands;  the  second  at  Iowa  City; 
the  third  at  Tipton;  the  fourth  at  Berg-oon's 
Pord  on  the  Wapsy,  and  the  fifth  at  a  Metho- 
dist Quarterly  meeting-  held  in  their  log- 
church  in  the  timber.  This  church  had  then 
no  floor  or  window  opening's,  light  coming-  in 
throug-h  the  open  door,  and  the  spaces  in  the 
log-  sides.  Meeting's  held  where  the  villag-e  of 
Maquoketa  now  stands  were  in  a  sod-covered 
log-  cabin  built  for  a  blacksmith  shop. 

During-  the  first  summer  in  Iowa,  I  preached 
once  in  Rock  Island,  four  times  in  Davenport, 
three  times  in  Marion,  Linn  County;  three 
times  in  Tipton,  Cedar  County;  and  once  at 
Andrew,  the  county   seat  of  Jackson  County. 

A  man  named  Jackson  was  hung-  to  the  limb 
of  an  oak  tree  near  the  log-  court  house  in 
Andrew  that  summer  for  the  murder  of  a  man 
named  Perkins.  Perkins  had  a  claim  on  the 
Maquoketa  river,  and  Jackson  jumped  it  and 
killed  him.  This  claim  was  between  Canton 
and  Maquoketa,  and  my  neig-hbor  Rig-g-s  and 
I,  with  our  raft  of  lumber,  went  past  the  Per- 
kins' clearing-  and  the  scene  of  the  murder 
on  our  trip  down  the  river. 

The  one  hundred  dollars  a  year  from  the 
Missionary  Board  was  the  only  money  re- 
ceived,   and    postage,    which    was   twenty-five 


34 

cents  a  letter,  made  a  heavy  inroad  on  this 
amount,  and  if  some  kind  Eastern  friend  en- 
closed a  one  dollar  bill  then  the  postaj^e 
became  fifty  cents.  But  soon  after  moving" 
into  our  home,  Bloomfield  postoffice  was  es- 
tablished, w^ith  our  cabin  for  the  office  and 
myself  the  postmaster;  and  I  was  allowed  to 
receive  letters  free  from  postag-e  as  one  of 
the  emoluments  of  the  office,  a  privilege  thor- 
oughly appreciated.  How  good  it  was  to  get 
letters  from  the  old  home  and  not  have  to  pay 
out  the  last  quarter  for  postage.  We  had  one 
in-coming"  and  one  out-going  mail  a  week,  on 
horse  back. 

On  Aug-ust  31,  1842,  a  meeting  was  held  at 
the  home  of  Brother  Earl  for  the  purpose  of 
org-anizing-  a  Baptist  Church.  An  organiza- 
tion was  effected  with  the  following-  members: 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  W.  Doolittle,  Mr  and  Mrs. 
Jason  Pangborn,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  W.  Y.  Earl, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Levi  Decker,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Esq. 
Taylor,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  E.  Brown,  Mrs. 
Eliza  Ballard,  Mrs.  Mitchell. 

Other  Baptist  People  in  that  region  were: 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ebenezer  Wilcox,  on  Bear 
Creek;  Mr.  Woodsworth,  twelve  miles  in  the 
timber;  Mrs,  Jno.  Wilcox,  at  South  Grove; 
Mrs.  David  Bently,  at  Wright's  Corners;  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Clark,  three  miles  northeast,  and 
Mrs.  Palmer  at  Andrew. 


35 

Bro.  Jason  Pang-born  and  family  came  from 
Northeastern  New  York.  Sister  Pang-born 
was  a  devoted  Christian,  educated  and  re- 
fined. Like  most  of  the  early  settlers,  their 
means  were  very  limited.  Before  leaving 
their  eastern  home  she  became  blind.  When 
we  called  on  them  they  were  living-  in  a 
small  log-  cabin  at  the  northeast  corner  of  the 
quarter  section  on  which  the  Midland  North- 
western Railway  station  is  located,  at  Maquo- 
keta. 

In  that  little  cabin  with  scarcely  anything- 
contributing-  to  comfort  or  convenience,  and 
with  her  husband  and  four  small  children, 
cheerfully,  without  complaint,  she  was,  with 
extended  hands,  feeling  her  toilsome  way  in 
total  darkness,  caring-  for  her  family. 

Some  years  later  we  attended  the  funeral 
of  one  of  her  children,  a  little  boy.  She  had 
never  seen  him.  At  the  close  of  the  services 
she  was  led  to  the  open  coffin.  Standing- 
there  tenderly  and  lovingly  for  a  few  moments 
with  tears  fast  falling-  from  her  sig-htless  eyes, 
she  passed  her  hands  over  the  cold  face  say- 
ing-, "I  have  never  seen  the  dear  child's  face. 
I  must  get  an  impression  of  how  he  looks." 
The  dear  mother  has  gone  where  the  blind 
can  see  and  where  loving-  eyes  are  never 
dimmed  by  tears. 

At  the  Iowa  City  Convention  in  June,   ar- 


36 

rano-ements  were  made  for  a  meetin<r  in  Dav- 
enport on  the  16th  of  September,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  orcranizing-  an  association  embracing 
all  the  churches  north  of  the  Iowa  river. 
When  the  time  came  to  go  to  Dav- 
enport, Bro.  Doolittle  could  furnish  a  horse 
for  me  to  ride.  But  that  would  not  do, 
as  I  wanted  Mrs.  Brown  to  go.  The  light 
wagon  used  on  the  trip  to  Iowa  City  was  gone. 
Borrowing  the  rear  axle,  wheels  and  hounds 
of  a  lumber  wagon,  I  made  a  pair  of  shafts 
from  fence  poles,  and  a  seat  by  boring  holes 
in  these  poles,  putting  in  wooden  pins  of  suit- 
able length  and  fastening  a  board  on  top.  A 
bundle  of  oats  w;as  used  for  a  cushion,  made 
necessary  by  the  lack  of  spring  in  the  axle- 
tree.  With  this  conveyance  we  set  out  for 
our  forty  mile  ride  to  Davenport,  having  the 
advantage  over  our  Iowa  City  journey — of  a 
very  well  defined  road.  We  thoroughly  en- 
joyed the  ride  over  the  broad  prairies  and 
through  groves,  where  the  foot  of  civilized 
man  had  been,  until  very  recently,  a  stranger 
since  time  began. 

The  first  human  habitation  after  leaving  our 
neighborhood  was  at  Point  Pleasant,  Kirtley's 
ferry,  where  we  crossed  the  Wapsy,  about 
twenty-two  miles  from  home.  A  few  miles 
farther  on  our  way  brought  us  to  Long  Grove, 
where  we  found  some  Scotch  families,  broth- 


37 

ers  named  Brownlee,  and  here  we  stopped  for 
the  nig-ht  and  were  very  hospitably  enter- 
tained by  the  kind,  good  people. 

Early  next  day  we  arrived  in  Davenport, 
where,  notwithstanding-  the  peculiar  and  con- 
spicuous character  of  our  conveyance,  and  the 
fact  that  road  carts  were  not  as  common  and 
popular  as  in  later  years,  we  had  no  hesita- 
tion and  felt  no  embarrassment  in  driving- 
throug-h  Main  Street  and  to  the  residence  of 
Dr.  Witherwax,  where  we  were  invited  to 
stay. 

Our  meeting-s  were  held  in  the  chamber  of 
a  small  frame  building-  on  Front  Street.  The 
following-  churches  were  represented: 

Bath,  later  LeClaire,  org-anized  in  June  1839, 
with  six  members. 

Davenport,  org-anized  in  September  1839, 
with  seven  members. 

Dubuque,  org-anized  in  Aug^ust  1840,  with 
eleven  members. 

Blooming-ton,  now  Muscatine,  org-anized  in 
October  1841,  with  five  members. 

Iowa  City,  org-anized  in  June  1841,  with 
eleven  members. 

Forks  of  the  Maquoketa,  org-anized  in 
Aug-ust  1842,  with  fourteen  members. 

Also  the  Church  at  Rock  Island,  Ills. 

Every  church  north  of  the  Iowa  river  was 
represented,    except  one  on  the  line  between 


38 

Delaware  and  Jones  Counties,  of  which  Rev. 
Ira  Blanchard  was  pastor. 

The  pastors  present  were,  Rev.  B.  Carpen- 
ter, Dubuque;  Rev.  W.  B.  Morrey,  Iowa  City; 
Rev.  E.  Fisher,  Muscatine;  Rev.  T.  Gillett, 
Rock   Island;  Rev.   C.  K.  Brown,  Maquoketa. 

The  following-,  which  we  quote,  expresses 
the  spirit  of  the  meeting-,  which  continued 
throug-h  Friday,  Saturday  and  Sunday; 

"This  first  meeting- of  the  Davenport  Asso- 
ciation was  one  of  sweet  and  precious  interest. 
After  sing-ing- at  the  close,  the  hymn,  "From 
Whence  Doth  This  Union  Arise,"  the  breth- 
ren reluctantly  parted  for  their  homes  and 
their  work." 

These  were  not  the  days  of  railroad  coaches 
and  cushioned  carriag-es,  but  of  emig-rant 
trails,  unbridg-ed  rivers,  creeks  and  sloug-hs, 
lumber  wag"ons,  prairie  schooners  and  old 
saddles. 

But  there  was  precious  enjoyment  in  this 
pioneer  missionary  life  and  work  and  we 
loved  it.     How  sweet  the  memory  still. 


Chapter  V. 

The  winter  of  1842-3,  long-  and  cold,  set  in 
early  in  November  with  a  heavy  fall  of  snow. 

Our  unfinished  log-  cabin  away  out  on  the 
bleak  prairie,  was  not  suitable  to  winter  in, 
and  with  the  approval  of  the  Home  Missionary 
Board,  we  went  to  Davenport,  intendino-  to 
return  to  Maquoketa  in  the  Spring-. 

We  at  once  eng-ag"ed  in  pastoral  work  with 
the  Davenport  and  Rock  Island  Churches. 
Little  could  have  been  accomplished  at  such  a 
time  at  Maquoketa;  but  there  was  a  g-ood 
opening-  in  the  new  field.  For  many  weeks, 
in  the  dead  of  that  long-  hard  winter,  revival 
meetinofs  \^ere  held  in  the  Rock  Island  Court 
House,  the  solid  ice  bridg-e  on  the  river  en- 
abling- the  Davenport  people  to  attend  and 
take  part,  which  they  did,  and  shared  larg-ely 
in  the  g-ood  result  of  the  work. 

More  that  fifty  new  members  were  received 
by  conversion  and  baptism  in  the  two  churches. 
Among  those  baptised  were,  Harman  G.  Rey- 
nolds and  wife,  John  A.  Boyer  and  wife  and 
Horace  Anthony  and  wife.  Brother  Reynolds 
became   a  useful  preacher  of  the  g-ospel,  and 

[39] 


40 

died  at  Blue  Rapids,  Kansas.  Brother  Boyer 
and  wife  were  for  more  than  forty  years 
among-  the  most  useful  and  exemplary  mem- 
bers of  the  Rock  Island  Church  until  they 
died  in  the  Lord.  Brother  Boyer  was  for  many 
years  a  deacon  of  the  church.  Brother  Horace 
Anthony  and  wife  were  for  many  years  hon- 
ored members  of  the  church  at  Camanche, 
and  there  they  died.  Brother  Anthony  was 
one  of  the  deacons  of  the  Camanche  Church. 

Another  of  the  converts  was  sister  Abigail 
Swartout,  mother  of  the  Rev.  P.  R.  Swartout, 
an  honored  minister  of  the  g-ospel  in   Illinois. 

During-  the  fall  of  1842,  the  brick  walls  of  a 
small  house  of  worship  were  put  up  by  the 
Davenport  Church.  A  few  mild  days  in  Jan- 
uary were  improved  to  put  the  roof  on,  and 
in  this  condition  it  served  for  holding-  meet- 
ing's. 

At  Davenport  in  1842-3,  Johnny  Dillon,  a 
lad  of  about  twelve  years,  was  one  of  my  Sun- 
day School  scholars. 

The  family  from  Montg-omery  County,  New 
York,  came  to  Davenport  in  1838.  They  were, 
like  ourselves  and  many  other  pioneers,  of 
limited  means  and  the  humbler  walks  of  life; 
kind,  pleasant  neig-hbors  and  g-ood  friends,  of 
hig-h  character. 

The  boy,  John  Forrest  Dillon,  throug-h  his 
own  efforts,   industry,    integ-rity  and    ability, 


41 

became  Judg-e  and  Chief  Justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  Iowa,  Judg-e  of  the  United 
States  Circuit  Court,  and  the  author  of  text 
books  on  important  legal  subjects,  a  credit  to 
the  state  of  his  adoption,  loved,  honored  and 
respected  by  its  people. 

His  reputation  as  a  jurist,  for  ability,  at- 
tainments, integrity  and  fairness,  and  as  a 
law-writer,  is   second  to  none  in  the  country. 

He  resigned  his  position  as  United  States 
Circuit  Judge,  to  become  Professor  of  Equity 
Jurisprudence  of  the  Columbia  Law  School, 
and  later  Chief  Counsel  for  the  Union  Pacific 
Railway  Company,  the  Western  Union  Tele- 
g-raph  Company  and  the  Missouri  Pacific  Rail- 
way. 

Judge  Dillon  is  a  gentleman  of  fine  personal 
appearance,  commanding-  presence,  dignified, 
g-enial,  modest,  unassuming-,  kindly  and  ap- 
proachable. 

In  the  summer  of  1843  we  made  several 
missionary  trips  to  points  up  the  river,  org-an- 
izing-  a  church  at  Port  Byron  on  the  Illinois 
side,  where  I  baptized  three  into  membership, 
and  another  at  Camanche,  where  eig-ht  were 
baptized  at  the  time  and  more  later. 

The  first  annual  meeting-  of  the  Davenport 
Association  was  held  in  Dubuque.  Deacon 
Calkins  and  myself  from  Davenport  were  del- 
eg-ates.     We    made   the   eig-hty    mile    journey 


42 

tog"ether  in  a  bug-g^y  and  put  up  the  first  nig-ht 
at  Andrew  in  Jackson  County,  about  fifty 
miles  from  Davenport. 

We  here  found  to  our  sorrow,  that  while  the 
Indians  had  g-one  the  bed  bug-s  remained.  On 
retiring"  the  deacon  being-  tired,  was  soon 
sound  asleep,  but  the  elder  didn't  and  couldn't 
g-o  to  sleep.  Later  the  attack  became  so  stren- 
uous he  g-ot  up  and  retreated  to  the  door 
yard  and  then  to  a  cabin  where  he  found  the 
horse  and  a  nest  of  pig's. 

The  pigs  vacated,  and  after  remaining-  a 
time  he  decided  to  try  the  bed  ag-ain,  thinking- 
the  deacon  would  by  this  time  monopolize  the 
bug's,  but  to  his  amazement  they  were  as 
plentiful  as  ever,  and  ten  fleas  to  every  bug-. 
He  then  surrendered  without  condition, 
giving-  up  all  idea  of  sleep  or  rest,  and  longed 
for  day.  These  things  are  mentioned,  not  in 
the  w^ay  of  complaint,  but  as  an  instance  of 
the  spice  of  pioneer  life 

We  had  at  Dubuque  a  grand,  good  meeting, 
six  new  churches  joining  the  association. 
Meetings  were  held  in  the  Baptist  Church,  a 
small  frame  building  sixteen  by  twenty-four 
feet.  This  was  the  first  house  of  worship 
built  by  the  Baptists  in  Iowa.  The  Daven- 
port Church  was  the  second.  Returning 
home,  we  put  up  the  first  night  wdth  Deacon 
Montague  near  Andrew;  very  pleasant  people, 


43 

just  out  from  New  York.  They  lived  in  a 
log-  cabin,  roofed  with  broad  boards  which 
were  badly  warped. 

A  heavy  thunder  storm  came  up  in  the 
nig-ht  and  literally  rained  us  out  of  bed. 
Deacon  Calkins,  being-  much  more  sensitive 
to  water  than  to  bed  bug's,  soon  turned  out, 
but  the  elder  stayed  until  the  water  beg-an 
running-  into  the  bed.  We  felt  very  sorry  for 
Sister  Montag-ue  in  her  eifort  to  save  the  nice 
thing-s  she  broug-ht  with  her  from  her  eastern 
home.  Nothing-  further  of  interest  occurred 
on  our  journey  home. 

In  the  summer  of  1843,  Capt.  Wilson,  who 
ran  the  ferry  between  Davenport  and  Rock 
Island,  put  on  a  horse-power  boat  in  place  of 
a  little  scow  or  yawl,  which  was  a  g-reat  im- 
provement. 


Chapter  VI. 

Our  next  field  of  labor  was  at  LeClaire, 
fifteen  miles  above  Davenport  on  the  river,  at 
the  head  of  the  upper  rapids,  where  we  went 
in  the  spring-  of  1844.  The  summer  of  1844 
was   one   of  high  winds,  floods  and  tornados. 

The  second  annual  meeting  of  the  Terri- 
torial Missionary  Convention  was  held  at  Mt. 
Pleasant  in  Henry  County,  in  June.  Brothers 
James  Turner,  William  Palmer  and  myself 
were  deleg-ates  from  LeClaire.  For  the 
journey  I  furnished  a  lig-ht  lumber  wag-on  and 
Brother  Turner  ahorse.  To  lig-hten  the  load 
the  box,  except  the  bottom  boards,  was  taken 
off.  Rain  and  heavy  roads  made  our  prog-ress 
slow.  We  put  up  on  the  second  nig-ht  about 
half  way  between  Muscatine  and  Wapello, 
then  the  county  seat  of  Louisa  County,  and  if 
clouds  ever  bursted  they  did  all  of  that 
nig-ht.  Far  away  on  the  uninhabited  g-rounds 
west  of  Wapello  we  came  about  noon  the  next 
day  to  Crooked  Creek  which  was  booming-. 
.  It  was  about  thirty  feet  wide  and  ten  feet 
deep.  Fording-  was  out  of  the  question.  We 
must  swim  or  turn  back,  and  g-oing-  back  was 
no  part  of  the  prog-ramme. 

[44] 


45 

Finding  a  grape  vine  near  I  cut  and  pulled 
it  out  of  the  tree.  Taking-  the  wagon  to 
pieces  we  used  the  bottom  boards  for  a  raft 
The  g-rape  vine  was  fastened  to  one  end  and 
the  lines  from  the  harness  to  the  other.  I 
swam  the  creek  with  the  g-rape  vine,  and  by 
pulling-  the  raft  back  and  forth  the  running- 
g-ear  of  the  wag-on  and  our  bag-gage  was  fer- 
ried across.  Then  the  horse  was  driven  in 
and  caug-ht  on  the  opposite  side,  and  lastly 
Bros.  Turner  and  Palmer  sw^am  over.  This 
took  time  and  it  was  eleven  o'clock  at  night 
when  we  reached  the  banks  of  Big-  Creek  four 
miles  from  Mt.  Pleasant,  and  found  it  flooded 
and  impassable  by  team,  and  no  human  habi- 
tation in  sig-ht.  Calls  long-  and  loud  at  length 
obtained  a  reply  from  a  man  on  the  opposite 
bank  who  said  that  half  a  mile  above  w^e  would 
find  a  cabin,  which  we  did  and  w^ere  very 
kindly  entertained  for  the  nig-ht.  My  com- 
panions being  elderly  men  occupied  a  bed, 
and  I  the  floor,  before  a  cheerful  fire.  In  the 
morning-  we  crossed  the  creek  on  a  tree  fallen 
for  that  purpose,  and  walked  a  few  miles  to 
Mt.  Pleasant,  there  being  neither  ford  or 
ferry  for  our  conveyance.  The  convention 
meeting-s  were  held  on  Friday,  Saturday  and 
Sunday,  and  thoug-h  roads  and  weather  w^ere 
bad  there  was  a  g^ood  attendance  and  the  meet- 
ing's were  very  interesting-,  and  we  felt  amply 


46 

compensated  for  all  our  trouble  in  petting- 
there.  There  was  no  rain  durino-  the  meet- 
ing-s  and  our  journey  home  wns  made  without 
troul)le. 

During-  our  stay  at  LeClaire,  a  comfortable 
brick  church  with  stone  basement  w^as  erected. 
The  credit  for  building- this  church  was  larg-e- 
ly  due  to  my  w'ife.  We  went  to  New  York 
for  the  winter  of  1844-5,  and  while  there  Mrs. 
Brown  collected  money  enoug-h  to  make  a 
beg-inning-.  I  quarried  rock  for  the  basement 
and  tended  the  mason.  In  the  summer  of 
1845,  Elder  J.  U,  Seeley,  pastor  of  the  Baptist 
Church  at  Muscatine,  w^ith  a  man  and  horse 
towed  a  flat  boat  up  the  river  fifty  miles  to 
Port  Byron  for  lime  to  build  a  meeting-  house 
for  his  cong-reg-ation.  I  g-ave  him  the  lumber 
for  doors  and  window^s.  That  was  the  way 
churches  were  built  in  Iowa  in  early  days. 
While  pastor  of  the  LeClaire  Church  I 
entered  some  land  on  the  prairie  a  few 
miles  west  of  town  and  built  a  small  brick 
house,  which  we  occupied  until  the  fall  of 
1847.  Our  nearest  neig-hbor  was  a  Scotch- 
Irish  family  of  Campbells,  half  a  mile  to  the 
south.  East,  west  and  north,  the  illimitable 
prairie  spread  out  w^ithout  human  habitation 
in  sig-ht. 

Between  our  place  and  LeClaire  lived  a 
family  of  Cody's,  and  one  of  the  sons,  then  a 


47 

young-  boy,  was  William  P.  Cody,  who  became 
Buffalo  Bill,  the  famous  scout  and  showman. 
James  DeGrush  Brown,  our  third  child  and 
son,  was  born  in  the  brick  house  on  the 
prairie,  February  9th,  1846.  In  the  summer 
of  1846,  my  father  and  mother  made  us  a  most 
welcome  visit,  driving-  with  one  horse  and  a 
covered  bugg-y  from  Madison  County,  New 
York,  to  Scott  County,  Iowa,  a  notable  jour- 
ney. They  were  six  weeks  on  the  road  each 
way.  During-  our  pioneer  days  in  Iowa,  1842 
to  1851,  the  Indian  tribes,  from  whom  the 
land  was  had  by  purchase  and  treaty,  were 
frequent  visitors.  They  were  the  genuine 
Aborig-ines,  uncontaminated  by  contact  with 
the  whites.  As  a  rule  friendly  but  when 
g*ame  was  scarce  disposed  to  make  free  with 
the  cattle  and  hog-s  of  the  settlers,  and  their 
presence  always  excited  some  fear  of  possible 
dang-er.  They  were  savages  and  we  never 
knew  what  they  might  do.  These  Indians 
were  fine  specimens  of  their  race;  stalw^art, 
dig-nified,  comely,  active  and  fearless;  well 
supplied  with  wig'wams,  ponies,  robes  and 
blankets,  bow^s,  arrows  and  g-uns.  A  visit  to 
their  camp  was  always  interesting-  In  these 
early  days  prairie  fires  were  novel,  exciting-, 
and  often  dang-erous  incidents.  In  the  fall 
when  the  heavy  g-rowth  of  grass  on  prairie 
and  in  sloug-hs  w^as  dead  and  dry  they  were 


48 

frequent.  Seen  in  the  ni^fht,  driven  swiftly 
by  hi^h  winds,  extending-  for  miles,  and 
lig-htintr  the  heavens  with  their  lurid  <4-low,  the 
sio-ht  was  something-  to  remember. 

Pioneer  life  on  the  far  western  border  had 
its  compensations  as  well  as  its  hardships, 
privations  and  trials.  The  early  settlers  were 
proverbially  hospitable.  Neighbors  were 
sociable,  kindly,  sympathetic  and  helpful;  and 
people  who  lived  this  life,  as  a  rule  loved  it, 
and  preferred  it  to  any  other. 

At  LeClaire  in  the  fall  of  1843,  under  the 
labors  of  Elder  J.  N.  Seeley,  a  precious  and 
powerful  revival  of  relig-ion  occurred,  twenty- 
two  being-  added  to  the  church  by  conversion 
and  baptism  at  the  time  and  more  later. 


Chapter  VII. 

We  remained  five  years  in  Scott  County, 
from  the  fall  of  1842  until  the  fall  of  1847, 
when  we  returned  to  Maquoketa.  We  made 
several  visits  to  that  place  during*  the  time, 
and  always  felt  g-reatly  interested  in  it.  Mr. 
John  E.  Goodenow.  one  of  the  first  settlers 
and  proprietor  of  the  town  site,  presented 
me  with  a  lot,  on  the  corner  of  Piatt  and  Eliza 
Streets,  on  which  to  build  a  home.  The  little 
town  had  at  that  time  two  small  g-eneral  stores; 
a  blacksmith  shop,  a  small  brick  school  house 
and  a  hotel,  and  probably  about  two  hundred 
people.  Between  the  north  and  south  forks  of 
the  Maquoketa  river,  north  and  west  of  town, 
was  the  finest  body  of  timber  then  known  in 
the  Territory,  owing-  to  the  fact  that  the 
rivers  and  conformation  of  the  adjacent  coun- 
try protected  it  from  the  ravag-es  of  prairie 
fires. 

There  was  no  finer  farming-  country,  soil 
or  surrounding-s  to  be  found  in  the  west.  We 
built  a  comfortable  little  home  on  the  lot  Mr. 
Goodenow  g-ave  us  and  occupied  it  until  May, 
1851. 

We    at    once    resumed    pastoral    work    at 

[49] 


50 

Maquoketa  and  in  Fc'l)ruar\'  followino-  re- 
org-anized  the  church  with  sixteen  members. 
Durino'  this  winter  the  Baptists  and  Metho- 
dists joined  in  holding-  revival  meeting-s.  re- 
sulting* in  g-reat  gfood  work.  The  re-organized 
Baptist  Church  consisted  of  nine  male  and 
seven  female  members.  The  first  new  mem- 
bers received  by  baptism  were  two  young- 
ladies,  Frances  Mears  and  Mary  Pang-born, 
most  excellent  and  exemplary  Christians. 
My  outlying  stations  for  missionary  work  in 
the  Maquoketa  field  were  LaMotte,  twent}^ 
miles  to  the  north;  Pence's  School  House, 
nine  miles  w^est  on  Bear  Creek;  Burlesons, 
six  miles  west,  and  Wright's  Corners,  tw^o 
miles  south,  where  we  held  very  interesting- 
meetings  in  the  chamber  of  Mr.  Wright's  new 
house.  Appointments  were  occasionally  made 
and  filled  at  Cascade  and  Andrew;  small  out- 
lying settlements.  The  pastor  and  church 
who  confine  their  work  to  the  narrow  limits  of 
the  town  where  they  are  located  cannot  have 
much  of  the  gospel  missionary  spirit.  They 
need  more  of  the  spirit  of  enlargement  that 
animated  the  church  at  Jerusalem  when  God 
scattered  the  members  and  they  went  abroad 
preaching  the  Word. 

Deacon  Phillip  went  down  to  Samaria  and 
beg-an  revival  meeting-s,  preaching-  the  prec- 
ious g-ospel,  and  there  was  g-reat   joy  in  that 


51 

city;  "For  when  they  believed  Phillip  preach- 
ing- the  thing-s  concerning-  the  kingdom  of 
God,  and  the  name  of  Jesus  Christthey  were 
baptized,  both  men  and  women." 

Peter  and  others  came  down  from  Jerusa- 
lem and  they  went  on  with  the  good  work. 
When  we  next  hear  of  Phillip  he  is  away 
southwest  of  Jerusalem.  Coming  out  upon 
the  g-reat  road  from  Jerusalem  to  Gaza,  he 
met  the  Ethiopian  Eunuch  in  his  chariot  read- 
ing the  book  of  Isaiah  so  full  of  Christ  and 
salvation.  God  prepares  the  way  for  the 
missionary  spirit.  Philip  said  to  the  Eunuch, 
''Understandest  thou  what  thou  readest?" 
"How  can  I  unless  some  man  guides  me." 
"Come  with  me  in  the  chariot,"  said  the 
Eunuch,  and  Phillip  began  at  the  same  script- 
ure and  preached  Jesus  unto  him.  And  they 
came  to  a  certain  water  and  the  Eunuch  said, 
"Here  is  water,  what  doth  hinder  me  to  be 
baptized?"  And  Phillip  said,  "If  thou  believ- 
eth  with  all  thine  heart  thou  mayest;"  and  he 
answered  and  said,  "I  believe  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  Son  of  God."  And  they  went 
down  into  the  water,  both  Phillip  and  the 
Eunuch  and  he  baptized  him.  Here  is  an 
admirable  illustration  of  the  simplicity  and 
adaptability  of  the  gospel.  .  Philip  did  not  say 
"I  am  only  a  deacon,  wait  while  I  go  to  Jeru- 
salem for  Peter  and  he  will  baptize  you      No, 


Phillip  baptized  him  tind  he  went  on  his  way 
rejoicin<4",  doubtless  preacliinj^'  Jesus  on  the 
wav  and  when  he  ^ot  home  to  Ethiopia 

When  we  study  this  bit  of  Philli])'s  history, 
how  he  preached  and  baptized,  re^-ardless  of 
modern  ritualism  and  formalism,  and  the 
oflorious  results  that  followed,  we  feel  as  we 
imag-ine  Father  Leonard,  a  shouting-  Metho- 
dist, did  in  our  boyhood  days.  He  was  a 
small  man  but  a  great  shouter,  and  some  of 
his  brethren  thoug-ht  he  didn't  shout  at  just 
the  rig-ht  time,  and  remonstrated  with  him, 
and  he  promised  to  restrain  his  feeling-s  and 
was  remarkably  quiet  for  some  time.  But  one 
day,  in  a  g-ood  old-fashioned  meeting-,  he  w^as 
seen  rubbing-  his  hands  and  shrug-ging-  his 
shoulders,  when  straig-htening-  up  he  shouted, 
"Amen,  praise  the  Lord."  "Amen,  hit  or 
miss." 

We  do  need  in  our  churches  more  of 
Phillip's  missionary  spirit. 

While  at  Maquoketa  a  suitable  lot  was  se- 
cured for  a  meeting-  house. 

In  1845  the  Maquoketa  people  beg-an  to  plan 
for  an  Academy,  and  Mr.  Goodenow,  always 
public  spirited,  g-enerous  and  enterprising-, 
donated  a  handsome  site  for  the  building-.  In 
1849  the  work  was  taken  up  and  vigorously 
prosecuted. 

Early  in  the  fall  of  that  year  at  the  instance 


53 

of  the  trustees,  I  went  to  Eastern  New  York 
to  solicit  funds.  Many  of  the  early  settlers 
came  from  that  section  and  had  friends  and 
acquaintances  there. 

I  found  the  iron  industry,  in  which  the  cap- 
ital and  labor  of  that  part  of  the  state  was 
larg-ely  employed,  paralyzed  by  adverse  tariff 
leg-islation,  (Democratic  free  trade  policy). 
Business  was  dull,  times  hard  and  money 
scarce,  and  ver}^  little  could  be  done  in  the 
way  of  obtaining-  aid  for  the  Maquoketa  Acad- 
emy. But  in  spite  of  discourag-ement  the 
work  went  on,  and  the  building-,  handsome  and 
commodious  for  the  time  and  place,  was  com- 
pleted. 

Mechanics  and  laborers  eng-ag-ed  on  the 
work  were  boarded  in  the  families  of  enter- 
prising- citizens  to  help  along-,  the  pioneer 
wives  and  mothers  cheerfully  contributing- 
time  and  toil  in  the  g-ood  cause.  Competent 
teachers  were  employed  and  many  of  the 
children  of  the  Maquoketa  settlers  laid  there 
the  substantial  foundation  for  their  education. 
Dr.  Lake  from  Kentucky  was  the  first  teacher 
and  an  uncommonly  g-ood  one,  capable  and 
thoroug-h. 

Good  lessons  and  deportment  and  thoroug-h 
training-  was  the  rule.  Dr.  Lake  was  for  more 
than  forty  years  a  resident  of  Maquoketa, 
and  died  there  loved  and  respected  b}^  all.   My 


54 

brother-in-law,  Mr.  James  O.  DeGrush,  of 
Little  Falls,  New  York,  with  his  wife,  Mrs. 
Brown's  sister,  visited  us  at  Maquoketa  in 
the  summer  of  1850. 

In  June  I  w-ent  with  them  as  far  as  Rock 
Island  on  their  homeward  journey. 

Returning-  with  a  heavy  load  of  goods  for 
one  of  our  merchants,  I  was  on  the  road  most 
of  one  night,  w^iich,  thou<jfh  in  midsummer, 
w^as  cold  with  heavy  dew. 

Getting-  chilled  and  taking-  a  severe  cold  I 
was  very  soon  the  subject  of  a  serious  attack 
of  inflammatory  rheumatism,  confining  me  to 
the  house  and  often  to  my  bed  much  of  the 
time  for  many  months.  My  general  health 
became  so  badly  broken  I  decided  in  the 
spring-  of  1851  to  return  to  New  York  in  the 
hope  of  regaining*  it. 

Accordingly,  on  Tuesday,  May  26th,  1851, 
all  needful  preparations  having  been  made, 
we  took  leave  of  Maquoketa  and  our  w^estern 
friends  and  acquaintances,  and  with  our  own 
conveyance,  fitted  up  for  making-  the  journey 
overland,  turned  our  faces  toward  our  old 
home  in  the  far  east. 


Chapter   VIII. 

At  Maquoketa  on  the  20th  day  of  June  1848, 
our  oldest  son,  Benjamin  Perry  Brown,  then 
in  his  ninth  year,  was  drowned  in  the  Maquo- 
keta river. 

In  the  afternoon  of  that  day  permission  was 
o-iven  him  and  his  youno-er  brother,  Charles, 
to  g-o  bathing"  with  the  understanding-  that 
they  were  to  g-o  below  the  Sear's  Mill,  where 
the  water  was  shallow  and  safe. 

They  very  soon  fell  in  with  some  town  boys, 
playmates,  who  were  on  their  way  to  the  river 
for  a  swim  and  were  g"oing-  to  Brown's  Pord, 
above  the  mill  and  dam,  in  deep  water.  Some 
of  these  boys  at  once  began  urging*  our  chil- 
dren to  accompany  them,  and  after  a  long- 
parley,  at  the  place  w^here  the  road  to  the  ford 
put  off  from  the  one  leading-  down  below  the 
mill,  Benny  and  Charles  went  with  them. 
The  boys  were  all  young-,  none  more  than  ten 
or  twelve  years  of  age.  Benny  w^as  the  first 
one  in  the  water,  and  was  at  once  beyond  his 
depth.  Oscea,  son  of  John  E.  Goodenow,  was 
the  only  one  wath  presence  of  mind  to  g-o  for 
help.  It  came  very  soon  but  too  late.  With- 
in an  hour  from  the   time  the  boys  left  home 

[55] 


56 

Benny's  lifeless  body  was  hrou<i;-ht  back.  He 
was  of  an  uncommonly  amiable,  winnin^r  dis- 
position; lovincr  and  obedient,  considerate  and 
conscientious  beyond  his  years.  His  sudden 
death  was  a  terrible  affliction  and  the  blow 
fell  wnth  crushing-  weig-ht  upon  his  mother, 
who  idolized  him. 

At  our  little  home  in  Maquoketa  another 
sad  occurrence  was  the  death  of  Nelson 
Walker,  Mrs.  Brow^n's  nephew.  He  was  a 
young-  man  of  the  highest  character  and  prom- 
ise, very  capable  and  energ^etic,  just  g'oing' 
into  business  with  every  prospect  of  success. 

He  made  friends  of  all  he  met  and  his  un- 
timely death  was  deeply  mourned  by  relatives 
and  friends. 

We  left  Maquoketa  for  New  York  on  May 
26th,  1851,  just  nine  years  to  a  day  from  the 
time  we  came  there,  intending-  to  make  the 
journey  with  our  own  conveyance,  but  on  Sat- 
urday following-  rain  beg-an  and  continued  to 
such  an  extent  that  arriving-  at  Chicago  we  felt 
compelled  to  abandon  the  plan.  We  crossed 
the  lake  by  steamer  to  New  Buffalo,  where  we 
took  the  cars  on  the  Michigan  Central  road  to 
Detroit,  and  a  Lake  Erie  steamboat  from 
Detroit  to  Buffalo.  From  Buffalo  to  Little 
Palls  in  Herkimer  County,  we  went  with  our 
conveyance.  Our  first  location  in  New  York 
was    at    Holland    Patent   in    Onedia  County, 


57 

where  my  fathei  was  pastor  of  the  Baptist 
Church  and  where  we  remained  a  year,  and 
my  health  steadily  improved.  While  here  I 
supplied  the  church  at  Steuben,  a  few  miles 
north. 

The  place  was  named  for  Baron  Steuben,  a 
German  nobleman,  who  did  valuable  service 
on  our  side  in  the  war  of  the  revolution.  The 
state  of  New  York  o-ranted  him  sixteen  thou- 
sand acres  of  land,  then  a  dense  wilderness 
of  heavy  timber.  The  loc^  cabin  where  he 
spent  his  summers,  and  hisg-rave,  marked  by 
a  plain  marble  slab,  were  on  this  tract  of  land. 
In  the  sprinor  of  1852  we  went  to  Russia,  in 
Herkimer  County,  and  preached  to  the  church 
at  that  place  for  a  year;  and  in  March  1853,  I 
ag-ain  became  pastor  of  the  Norway,  Herkimer 
County  Church,  occupying-  the  parsonag-e 
where  we  beg-an  housekeeping-  in  November 
1838. 

The  extreme  anti-slavery  views  and  preach- 
ing- of  a  former  pastor  had  divided  the  church. 
Althoug-h  decidedly  anti-slavery  myself,  I 
took  sides  with  neither  party  and  made  no 
direct  effort  for  reconciliation  or  harmony, 
discourag-ing- all  reference  to  the  trouble.  A 
letter  written  December  5th  following-  and 
published  in  the  Watchman  of  Boston,  sets 
forth  the  course  I  pursued  and  results: 


58 


Norway,  Herkimer  County,  N.  Y. 
December  5th,  1853. 

Dear  Brother  Editor: 

In  the  autumn  of  1838,  just  from  the  institu- 
tion at  Hamilton,  I  commenced  my  first  pas- 
toral labors  with  this  church,  which  were 
continued  some  eighteen  or  twenty  months. 
During  that  time  it  was  my  privilege  to  bap- 
tize seventeen  into  the  fellowship  of  the  church. 
After  spending  thirteen  years  in  other  parts  of 
the  great  harvest,  nine  of  them  in  the  Western 
Valley,  an  inscrutable  and  all-wise  Providence 
has  returned  me  to  the  people  of  my  first 
charge,  and  to  occupy  the  same  residence 
where  my  dear  companion  joined  me  in  the 
responsibilities  of  housekeeping.  I  commenc- 
ed labor  here  last  March,  but  what  a  change 
had  come  over  the  condition  and  prospects  of 
this  branch  of  God's  beloved  Zion.  The  once 
united,  prosperous,  happy  and  efficient  church 
was  divided  and  distracted,  brotherly  love 
gone,  confidence  and  Christian  fellowship  gone. 
That  good  Christian  influence  which  she 
once  exerted  in  the  community  gone.  The 
communion  was  neglected  for  two  years.  The 
work  was  commenced  with  the  firm  convic- 
tion that  salvation  depended  upon  the  gracious 
work  of  the  Divine  Spirit.  The  preaching 
during  the  summer  had  this  conviction  con- 
stantly in  view.  At  Covenant  meeting  in 
September  the  proposition  was  made  and 
agreed  to  that  all  agitation   of  the  subject  of 


59 

discord  should  cease  in  private  and  public  and 
they  would  resume  travel  as  a  church  by  ob- 
serving the  ordinance  of  the  Lord's  Supper 
the  following  Sabbath.  It  was  indeed  an  in- 
teresting season.  At  prayer  meeting  that 
Sabbath  evening  the  Good  Spirit  was  present, 
and  before  the  next  Covenant  meeting  we  were 
in  the  midst  of  a  revival,  with  weeping  souls 
saying,  "Pray  for  us,"  and  all  hearts  melted 
in  view  of  the  matchless  mercy  and  kindness 
of  God.  At  our  third  communion  season, 
observed  monthly,  the  hand  of  fellowship  was 
given  to  ten  joyful  converts  who  had  just  been 
baptized.  And  others  followed.  While  coun- 
cils and  meetings  to  talk  over  troubles  hardly 
ever  result  in  peace,  harmony  and  brotherly 
love,  the  presence  of  the  Divine  Spirit  never 
fails. 


Chapter   IX. 

At  the  parsonatre  in  Norway  on  July  29th, 
1853,  William  Carlos  and  Georg-e  Lyon  Brown, 
twin  sons,  were  born  to  us. 

We  were  in  central  and  western  New  York 
until  July  1857,  g'oing-  from  Norway  to  Fen- 
ner,  Madison  County,  the  fall  of  1854,  and  to 
Orleans  County  in  the  spring-  of  1856.  Having- 
reg*ained  health,  the  Home  Missionary  Society 
ag-ain  desig-nated  me  for  a  field  of  labor  in 
Iowa. 

On  Tuesday,  July  14th,  1857,  with  my  fam- 
ily, Mrs.  Brown.  James,  Willie  and  Georg-e,  I 
left  Buffalo  on  the  steamer  "Southern  Mich- 
ig-an"  for  Toledo,  our  oldest  son  Charles  re- 
maining- in  Orleans  County. 

Arriving-  at  Toledo  2  p.  m.  Wednesday,  w^e 
took  the  Michig-an  Southern  and  Indiana 
Northern  Railway  to  Chicag-o.  Mrs.  Brown 
and  the  children  went  by  rail,  Chicag-o  to 
DeWitt,  and  I  by  my  own  conveyance,  horse 
and  bug-g-y  to  Maquoketa.  After  visiting-  rel- 
atives and  friends  at  Maquoketa,  I  left  for 
Northeastesn  Iowa,  July  30th,  to  find  a  field 
for  labor,  the  selection  of  a  location  being-  left 
to   me,    stopping-  the  first  nig-ht  at  Dubuque. 

[60] 


61 

On  the  first  nig-ht  out  of  Dubuque  I  put  up 
with  a  German  family  just  west  of  Gutten- 
burg". 

The  weather  was  hot,  and  German  bedding- 
— a  heavy  feather  bed  under  and  a  lighter  one 
for  cover,  made  it  a  perspiring*  time.  Satur- 
day, Aug-ust  1,  arrived  atRossville,  Alamakee 
County,  where  I  spent  the  Sabbath,  preach- 
ing- twice. 

Here  I  met  Elder  James  Schofield,  with 
whom  I  was  to  counsel  as  to  a  location.  But 
as  he  knew  little  of  the  country  west  of 
Alamakee  County,  the  matter  was  left  to  my 
own  judg-ment.  On  Monday  I  drove  nine  miles 
to  Waukon,  stopping- with  Mr.  A.  J.  Hershey. 
Elder  L.  M.  Newell  was  pastor  at  Alamakee. 
I  met  here  Brother  Samuel  Hill  who  was 
licensed  to  preach  and  who  proposed  to  g-o 
with  me. 

I  found  him  pleasant  company  and  a  g-ood 
missionary  worker.  We  w^ent  on  Tuesday  to 
Preeport,  Winnishiek  County,  stopping-  with 
the  family  of  Brother  Leach. 

Here  I  found  several  Baptist  brethren,  and 
made  an  appointment  to  preach  on  Wednes- 
day evening-.  On  Wednesday  we  walked  to 
Decorah,  a  few  miles,  and  back.  We  had  a 
g-ood  cong-reg-ation  in  the  evening-,  and  Broth- 
er Hill  preached. 

On  Thursday  we  followed  the  Iowa  river  to 


62 

BliifFton,  twelve  miles  eibove  Decorah,  where  I 
found  Elder  Rice  and  several  Baptist  families 

Elder  Rice  was  a  brother  of  Elders  Wm. 
and  Lorenzo  Rice,  who  were  fellow  students 
with  me  at  Madison  University  in  Hamilton, 
New  York. 

On  Friday,  August  7th,  we  continued  our 
journey  to  New  Oregon  and  Vernon  Springs, 
in  Howard  County,  stopping  at  night  with 
Rev.  J.  W.  Windsor,  pastor  of  the  New 
Oregon  Congregational  Church. 

Brother  Windsor  was  a  near  neighbor  and 
friend  of  ours  at  Maquoketa  in  1848.  He  was 
living  on  a  farm  two  miles  northwest  of  Ver- 
non Springs.  I  learned  from  him  that  there 
were  several  Baptist  families  in  that  vicinity. 
On  Saturday,  August  8th,  we  went  to  Vernon 
where  we  found  and  called  on  a  number  of 
Baptists.  Elder  Chas.  H.  Roe  of  Belvidere, 
111.,  w^as  there  visiting  relatives  and  friends, 
and  Elder  P.  S.  Whitman,  whom  we  visited  at 
Belvidere,  111  ,  in  May  1842,  on  our  first  jour- 
ney west,  was  living  at  Vernon.  We  found 
a  very  general  desire  for  the  organization  of  a 
Baptist  Church  and  arranged  for  meetings  for 
the  following  day,  Sunday,  August  9th,  Broth- 
er Roe  to  preach  at  Vernon  Springs,  and  I  at 
Father  Fuller's,  a  few  miles  to  the  southwest 
on  the  prairie. 

On  Sunday  afternoon  a  meeting  for  consul- 


63 

tation  was  held  by  the  Baptist  brothers  and 
sisters  of  Vernon,  and  arrang-ements  were 
made  to  meet  on  Tuesday,  at  the  residence  of 
Judg-e  Samuel  P.  Gilcrest,  whose  wife,  Mary 
Ann  Gilcrest,  was  a  Baptist.  We  had  an 
excellent  meeting-  at  the  appointed  time  and 
resolved  to  org-anize  a  church  on  the  following- 
Sunday, 

On  Wednesday  Brother  Hill  and  I  started 
west  to  visit  Riceville,  Osag-e  and  Mitchell,  in 
Mitchell  County,  stopping-  the  first  nig-ht  at 
Riceville,  and  g'oing-  next  day  to  Osag-e  and 
Mitchell.  This  being-  Thursday  and  as  we 
were  to  be  at  Vernon  Spring's  ag-ain  on  Satur- 
day we  had  little  time  at  these  places.  On 
Friday  morning-,  August  14th,  we  set  out  to 
return  by  way  of  Pettibone. 

Rain  fell  heavily  the  preceding-  nig-ht  and 
roads  were  bad  and  sloug-hs  full,  and  a  mile 
east  of  Pettibone  we  stuck  in  one  and  had  to 
unhitch  and  get  the  bug-g-y  out  by  hand. 
Nieht  and  darkness  found  us  still  out  on  the 
prairie  southwest  of  Vernon,  where  we  put  up 
at  the  farm  house  of  Pratt  Wallace.  An 
early  start  on  Saturday  broug-ht  us  to  Vernon 
Spring-s  in  time  for  breakfast.  Vernon 
Spring-s  was  located  in  a  beautiful  little  valley. 
Judg-e  Samuel  F.  Gilcrest  of  Mt.  Vernon, 
Ohio,  one  of  the  early  settlers,  gave  it  the 
name,   Vernon    in    remembrance   of  his    Ohio 


64 

home.  Several  spring's  sending-  out  at  the 
head  of  the  valley  a  volume  of  sparkling-  crys- 
tal water  sufficient  to  make  a  g-ood  sized  stream 
winding-  prettily  down  for  a  mile  to  the  Tur- 
key river,  sug-g-ested  the  balance  of  the  name. 

At  the  foot  of  the  little  run  was  the  A.  H. 
Harris  mill  and  pond,  and  a  bluff  on  the  oppo- 
site bank  was  covered  by  a  handsome  g-rowth 
of  fine  timber,  The  surrounding-  country  was 
prairie,  rolling-  and  fertile,  flecked  with  g-roves 
of  oak,  hazel  brush  and  crabapple,  making-  a 
landscape  of  rare  beauty. 

Indian  trails,  well  worn  and  deep  from  long- 
use  followed  the  banks  of  all  the  streams. 
The  Turkey  river,  a  considerable  stream,  ran 
across  the  foot  of  the  Vernon  Spring-s  valley, 
and  was  skirted  with  handsome  g-roves. 

There  was  at  this  time  a  g-eneral  store, 
postoffice,  blacksmith  shop,  tavern,  and  a 
frame  building-  put  up  for  a  court  house,  and 
about  a  dozen  families.  The  mill  fitted  for 
g-rinding-  g-rain  and  sawing- log-s  brought  people 
from  a  distance. 

It  was  the  family  home  for  many  years,  and 
around  it  cluster  tender  recollections  and  fond 
memories  of  the  past.  It  is  for  many  reasons 
a  hallowed  spot  and  will  ling-er  in  loving-  re- 
membrance while  life  lasts. 


Chapter  X. 

Saturday,  August  15th,  was  spent  in  pas- 
toral calls  and  work,  Brother  Hill  preached  in 
the  evening-. 

Sunday  was  stormy.  Elder  Pierson,  pas- 
tor of  the  Baptist  Church  at  Leroy,  who  was 
invited  down,  preached  in  the  morning-  and  I 
in  the  afternoon,  after  which  the  dear  little 
church  was  org-anized. 

The  members  were,  Rev.  P.  S.  Whitman 
and  Mrs.  Carrie  Whitman,  his  wife;  Father 
John  Bowers  and  Sister  Clarinda  Bowers,  his 
wife;  Mrs.  Mary  Ann  Gilcrest,  wife  of  Judge 
Samuel  P.  Gilcrest;  Levi  Fuller  and  Mrs. 
Mary  Harris. 

At  this  meeting,  to  encourage  the  little 
band  and  extend  the  right  hand  of  fellowship, 
there  were  present,  Rev.  Chas.  H.  Roe,  of 
Belvidere,  Illinois,  Rev.  C.  G.  Pierson  of 
Leroy,  Minn.;  Rev.  S.  Hill  of  Boston,  and  Rev. 
C.  E.  Brown  of  the  Home  Missionary  Society. 
It  was  held  at  4  p.  m.,  Sunday,  August  16th, 
1857,  in  the  up  stairs  room  of  the  court  house 
at  Vernon. 

Our  household  goods  had  been  shipped  to 
Lansing,  Alamakee  County;  and  having  decid- 

[65] 


66 

ed  to  locate  at  Vernon  Spring-s,  I  went  with  a 
neig-hbor  and  two  teams  after  them;  leavino- 
Vernon  on  Wednesday,  September  2nd,  re- 
turning- Saturday,  the  4th,  and  on  next  Wed- 
nesday, the  9th,  started  for  Maquoketa  to  g-et 
Mrs.  Brown  and  the  children,  who  were  then 
visiting-  relatives  and  friends. 

Arriving-  at  Maquoketa  Friday  the  11th,  we 
started  the  following-  Monday  for  our  new 
home,  away  northwest  in  the  "Neutral  Lands 
of  the  Winnebag-oes." 

We  reached  Vernon  Springs  on  Monday, 
September  21st,  1857,  all  well  and  thankful, 
and  were  very  cordially  welcomed  by  all  and 
were  entertained  by  Brother  C.  W.  Sawyer 
and  wife,  who  at  that  time  were  proprietors 
of  the  Big-  Spring-  House,  a  log-  cabin,  twelve 
by^  eig-hteen  feet,  with  a  lean-to  behind.  The 
main  part  was  divided  into  tw^o  rooms  by  a 
bed  sheet  hung-  up  for  a  partition,  one  of  the 
rooms  being-  occupied  by  the  county  officers. 

We  at  once  took  possession  of  a  house  at 
the  head  of  the  valley,  rented  for  a  temporary 
home,  with  Judge  S  F.  Gilcrest,  Jno.  M. 
Field,  Rev.  P.  S.  Whitman  and  Chas.  W. 
Sawyer  and  families  for  our  neig-hbors.  Ver- 
non Spring's  was  at  this  time  the  county  seat 
of  How^ard  Count v,  and  the  people  had  put  up 
a  fair  sized  frame  building-  for  a  Court  House. 

Very    soon    after,  the    county  seat  was    re- 


67 
moved  to  Howard  Center,  five  miles  west, 
leaving-  the  Vernon  building-  for  school  and 
church  purposes.  The  lower  rooms  were 
used  for  school  purposes  and  the  upper  was 
pleasant  and  comfortable,  for  meeting's.  To 
furnish  seats  and  a  pulpit  Mr.  Cottrell,  living- 
in  the  g-rove,  g-ave  us  a  larg-e  bass  wood  tree. 
Brother  Sawyer  and  I  cut  it  into  log's  and 
hauled  it  to  the  mill. 

Mr.  A.  H.  Harris,  the  mill  owner,  always 
public  spirited  and  g'enerous,  g-ave  us  an  elm 
log-  and  sawed  all  into  suitable  lumber,  and  our 
meeting-  room  was  soon  comfortably  seated 
and  furnished  for  use. 

The  first  Covenant  meeting-  of  the  new 
church  was  held  at  Brother  Sawyer's  Sep- 
tember 26th,  when  Father  Benjamin  Fuller 
and  myself  and  wife  became  members. 

At  a  meeting-  the  next  day  Brothers  Whit- 
man, Fuller  and  myself  were  appointed  dele- 
g'ates  to  the  Dubuque  Association,  soon  to 
meet  at  West  Union,  where  our  church  was  to 
apply  for  admission. 

At  the  next  Covenant  meeting-,  October  31, 
Sister  Eliza  Bushell  united  by  letter,  and  the 
following-  day  Brother  James  Watson  was 
baptized  in  the  Turkey  river  and  received 
into  membership. 

Beg-inning-  Aug-ust  1857,  with  a  little  band 
of   eight,    the    membership   in   two   years  in- 


68 

creased  to  thirty,  and  within  the  year  follow- 
ing- to  over  sixty. 

At  the  organization  of  the  church  Brother 
P.  S.  Whitman  was  made  clerk  and  served 
until  April  1859,  when  Brother  C.  W.  Sawyer 
succeeded  him,  Brother  Whitman  moving" 
away. 

Father  John  Bowsers  w^as  chosen  deacon 
December  6th,  1857,  and  served  until  1863, 
when  a  stroke  of  apoplexy  destroyed  mind 
and  health. 

Brother  James  Siddall  w^as  chosen  a  deacon 
and  served  faithfully  until  his  death. 

On  Sunday,  March  11th,  1860,  Brother  John 
Milton  Bowers  and  Jane,  his  wife,  and  Broth- 
er D.  A.  Adams  and  Helena,  his  wife,  and 
others,  were  baptized,  and  on  Sunday,  April 
16th  following-.  Brother  William  Woodward 
and  seven  others  w^ere  baptized  and  became 
members  of  the  church. 

In  1861  a  school  house  w^as  built  and  meet- 
ingfs  were  held  in  it  thereafter. 

The  winter  of  1857-8  set  in  cold,  with  heavy 
snow  early  in  November,  mercury  g'oing  to 
sixteen  below^  zero,  but  November  proved  the 
coldest  month.  A  thaw  took  off  the  snow  the 
last  of  the  month  and  the  Turkey  river  was 
flooded  frequently  during  the  winter. 

Among  the  families  of  How^ard  County 
pioneers    who   w^ere    near    and  valued  friends 


69 

was  that  of  Brother  Geo.  W.  Fall,  who  came  a 
year  before  we  did,  and  was  living-  with  his 
wife  and  four  daughters  in  a  log-  cabin  on  the 
farm  of  Chester  M.  Carver,  a  mile  south  of 
Vernon.  Brother  Pall  was  a  licensed  minis- 
ter of  the  Methodist  Church,  but  not  regu- 
larly engaged  in  the  work. 

While  quite  a  young  man  he  had  the  misfor- 
tune to  lose  a  leg.  Notwithstanding  this  he 
was  a  very  capable,  active  and  tireless  worker, 
a  p-ood  neigfhbor  and  a  kind  friend;  his  cheery 
voice  and  face  made  him  always  welcome.  He 
died  in  How^ard  County  at  the  home  of  his 
daughter,  Mrs.  Mary  Carver,  in  July  1900,  in 
his  eighty-eighth  year,  loved,  honored,  re- 
spected and  mourned  by  all  who  knew  him; 
his  consistent,  christian  life,  faith  and  hope 
maintained  to  the  last.  Sister  Hannah  Pall, 
his  wife,  who  preceded  him  to  a  better  land  a 
few  years,  was  in  every  w^ay  a  worthy  com- 
panion. 

The  four  daughters,  Mary,  Arvilla,  Adeline 
and  Sylvia,  were  very  bright,  attractive  and 
interesting  girls  of  high  character. 

Mary  became  the  wife  of  Chester  M.  Car- 
ver; Arvilla  and  Reuben  W.  Beadle  were  mar- 
ried in  June,  1860. 

On  August  30th,  1866,  Adeline  the  third 
daughter,  and  my  oldest  son.  Charles  P. 
Brown,  were  married  by  me  at  Brother  Pall's 


70 

residence   in  Vernon  Springs.     Sylvia,    (Tib- 
bie) became  the  wife  of  W.  B.  Morey. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carver  and  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Beadle  were  near  and  valued  neio;-hbors  and 
friends  for  many  years. 

Judg-e  Samuel  P.  Gilcrest,  from  Mount  Ver- 
non, Ohio,  was  one  of  the  prominent  early  set- 
tlers. He  was  an  educated,  courteous  and 
kindly  gentleman  of  high  character  and  a 
capable,  successful  attorney.  His  thoroug-h 
knowledg-e  of  the  country  was  very  useful  to 
settlers  in  locating  land  claims  and  entries. 
Sister  Mary  Ann  Gilcrest,  his  wife,  was  a 
highly  esteemed  member  of  the  Baptist 
Church. 

Their  family  consisted  of  three  sons,  Frank, 
Murray  and  John,  and  one  daug-hter,  Inez 
Aug^usta. 

Judge  Gilcrest  went  to  California  over  land 
in  the  summer  of  1859,  and  his  family  followed 
a  few  years  later. 

Judge  and  Sister  Gilcrest  died  in  California 
some  years  since. 

Inez,  whose  husband,  Mr.  Hugh  Craig-,  is  a 
prominent  citizen  and  business  man  of  San 
Francisco,  is  living-  with  an  interesting  family 
in  Oakland. 

Frank,  Murray  and  John  with  their  families 
have  homes;  Frank  in  Oakland,  John  inOreg-on, 


,>^"" 


71 

and  Murray  in  Wyoming-.  All  honorable  and 
successful  business  men. 

Among-  the  earliest  acquaintances  and 
friends  made  in  Lime  Springs  was  the  family 
of  C.  C.  Hewitt,  who  settled  in  the  country  in 
1855,  coming-  from  Northeastern  Illinois, 
where  Mr.  Hewitt  had  been  engfao-ed  as  con- 
tractor  in  the  construction  of  the  Chicagfo  & 
Galena  Union  Railway. 

Mr.  Hewitt  located  his  claim  about  one  and 
one-half  miles  west  of  the  old  town  of  Lime 
Springs,  a  beautiful  quarter  section  with  the 
low^a  river  running-  throug-h  the  southeast 
corner. 

In  the  autumn  of  1855,  a  log-  cabin  for  the 
family  and  a  shelter  for  the  yoke  of  cattle 
were  built.  The  family  consisting-  of  father 
and  mother  and  a  little  baby  g-irl  named 
Ella  were  made  as  comfortable  as  possible  for 
the  approaching  winter,  and  the  work  of 
fencing-  and  other  preparations  for  breaking- 
up  and  working-  the  farm  in  the  ensuing-  spring- 
were  made. 

Mrs.  Hewitt's  maiden  name  was  Mary  E. 
Chesebro,  and  she  was  a  daug-hter  of  Mrs. 
M.  M.  Marsh.  Mr.  Chesebro  died  in  Court- 
land  County,  New  York,  and  the  w^idow  mar- 
ried Mr.  Marsh. 

Two  brothers,  Oscar  and  Oliver  Chesebro, 
with   their   families,    came    to   Lime   Spring-s 


with  the  Hewitt's.  Oscar  pre-empted  a  quar- 
ter about  half  a  mile  east  of  the  Hewitt  claim, 
while  Oliver  built  a  log  cabin  in  the  villa^-e 
just  across  the  road  from  the  one  built  and 
occupied  for  many  years  by  Esquire  Marsh 
and  family. 

The  long  rides  in  the  cold  and  storms  of 
our  northern  Iowa  winters,  which  were  made 
every  second  week  to  meet  my  appointments 
at  Lime  Spring's,  were  often  tedious,  but  the 
warm  and  generous  welcome  to  the  hospitality 
of  those  frontier  homes  alw^ays  abundantly 
repaid  the  inconvenience  and  discomfort  of 
the  trip. 

Mrs  Brown  and  the  twin  boys,  George  and 
Willie,  often  accompanied  me  on  these  trips, 
and  the  boys  found  many  congenial  compan- 
ions and  playmates  among  the  children  at 
Lime  Springs. 

At  a  donation  party  given  for  my  benefit  in 
the  log  house  of  Squire  Marsh,  during  the 
winter  of  1860,  my  son  Willie,  then  only  seven 
years  old,  met  Ella  Hew^itt,  at  that  time  six, 
and  the  mutual  interest  and  admiration  were 
noted  -by  many  present.  The  acquaintance 
thus  early  made  continued  almost  w^ithout  in- 
terruption; and  fourteen  years  later,  in  the 
presence  of  many  who  had  noticed  the  begin- 
ning of  the  courtship,  I  married  the  couple  at 


-sssf^r^ 


r 


^ 


^- 


'V 


fXjL'^U^ 


73 

the  Hewitt  home  in  the  "new  towm"  or  station 
of  Lime  Spring's. 

Among-  the  families  that  settled  in  and 
about  Lime  Spring-s  I  recall  the  Sanborn's, 
Cook's,  Knowlton's,  Ober's,  Haven's,  Craig-'s, 
Paddock's,  Burg-ess'  Van  Leuven's,  Moulton's, 
Greenleaf's,  Aleck  and  Georg-e  Searles,  Bunk- 
er's, Johnson's.  Well's.  Dr.  Reed  and  many 
others,  all  g-ood  citizens  and  g-ood  neig-hbors. 
Brother  Alonzo  Sag-e  and  wife.  Father  Rey- 
nolds, Brother  William  Reynolds  and  family, 
Father  Buckland  and  family.  Brother  D.  M. 
Fuller  and  family  w^ill  always  be  remembered 
with  kindly  g-ratitude  and  love. 

Mr.  Hewitt,  Father  and  Mother  Marsh, 
Oliver  and  Julia  Chesebro,  Oscar  Chesobro, 
and  almost  every  person  in  active  life  in  those 
early  days,  have  passed  from  life's  activities 
and  are  sleeping-  peacefully  in  the  cemetery 
which  overlooks  the  beautiful  valley  where 
they  located  and  ^vhich  they  loved  so  well. 

Esquire  Marsh  and  family  left  their  home 
in  Courtland  County,  New^  York,  the  autumn 
of  1836,  coming-  by  canal  from  Central  New 
York  to  Buffalo,  and  by  sailing-  v^essel  from 
Buffalo  to  Chicag-o. 

More  than  three  weeks  were  consumed  in 
making-  the  trip  from  Buffalo  to  Chicag-o,  the 
vessel   entered   Lake   Michig-an   three    times. 


74 

being-  twice  blown  back  throug-h  the  straits  of 
Mackinack  by  adverse  winds. 

The  family  first  settled  in  Illinois  in  the 
neig^hborhood  of  Elgin,  emigrating  to  Howard 
County  in  the  early  fifties. 

Mr.  Marsh  built  and  operated  one  of  the 
first  grrist  mills  in  Howard  County.  He  was 
a  man  of  high  character,  unquestioned  integ- 
rity and  his  uniform  kindness  of  heart  and 
courtesy  won  for  him  a  place  in  the  respect, 
confidence  and  esteem  of  the  community,  such 
as  few  men  enjoy  and  w^hich  lasted  through  a 
long-  and  useful  life. 

Early  in  the  sixties  the  Richards  family, 
consisting  of  the  father  Joseph  Richards,  his 
wife  and  four  children,  William,  Benton,  Mar- 
garet and  Annette,  moved  from  Otranto, 
Minn.,  to  Vernon  Springs,  and  for  a  number 
of  years  kept  the  tavern  in  the  village 

William  was  a  pleasant  friend  and  compan- 
ion of  our  older  boys,  while  Bent  and  our  twin 
boys,  George  and  Will,  were  almost  inseper- 
able  playmates. 

Joseph  Richards  enlisted  in  the  army  in 
1862  and  saw  hard  service  in  the  Indian  cam- 
paigns" following-  the  Sioux  massacres  of  that 
year.  He  was  honorably  discharg-ed  from  the 
service  after  being  seriously  wounded  in  bat- 
tle, and  returned  to  Vernon  Springs,  w^here 
he  lived  many  years  and  where  he  died.    Mrs. 


MRS.   W.   C.    BROWN 
MRS.   C,  C,    HEWITT 


MASTER  WILLIAM  BROWN  PIERCE 
FIVE  GENERATIONS 


MRS.   FRANK   E.    PIEKCE 

ESQ-   M.    M.   MARSH 


75 

Richards  died  in  Cresco,  to  which  place  she 
moved  after  her  husband's  death. 

William  and  Marg-aret  took  advantag-e  of 
every  opportunity  to  acquire  an  education, 
and  were  among-  the  most  efficient  school 
teachers  of  those  early  days.  William  later 
studied  Civil  Eng-ineerin^  and  became  an 
eng-ineer  of  ability. 

Marg-aret  married  Henry  Thayer,  who  died 
some  years  ag"o.  Mrs.  Thayer  still  lives  on 
the  old  home  place  west  of  Bonair. 

Nettie  suffered  from  a  disease  of  the  eyes 
which  left  her  entirely  blind,  and  she  died 
many  years  ag-o.  She  was  a  patient  sufferer 
for  a  number  of  years. 

Benton,  the  young-er  boy,  eng-a^ed  in  min- 
ing- and  has  located  in  Montana  or  Wash- 
ington. 

Chester  M.  Carver  of  Stockbridg-e,  Madi- 
son County,  New  York,  left  home  in  April 
1856,  for  Kansas,  visiting-,  enroute  with 
friends  at  Solon,  Ohio,  where  he  met  Mr. 
Appollos  White  from  Howard  County,  who 
recommended  that  place  for  a  location.  Act- 
ing* on  this  advice  Mr.  Carver  came  in  May 
and  boug-ht  a  fine  claim  a  mile  south  of  Vernon. 
In  September  1856,  Brother  Fall  from  Beloit, 
Wis.,  with  his  family,  for  a  home  in  North 
Iowa,  met  Mr.  White  at  McGreg-or,  low^a;  who 
advised  him  to  look  at  Howard  County,  which 


76 

he  did.  At  Geo.  Warren's  he  met  Mr.  Carver 
who  proposed  to  fix  up  the  cabin  on  his  claim 
for  the  family.  This  plan  was  carried  out 
and  in  the  spring'  of  1857  Mr.  Carver  became 
a  member  of  the  family,  and  in  December 
1859,  he  and  Mary,  the  oldest  of  the  four 
daughters,  were  married.  Mr.  Carver  has 
been  a  resident  of  Howard  County  more  than 
fifty  years;  about  fifteen  years  on  the  farm 
south  of  Vernon;  several  years  in  Cresco,  and 
nearly  thirty  years  on  a  farm  joining-  the  town 
on  the  west.  The  Carver's  are  people  of  the 
hig-hest  character,  an  honor  and  credit  to  any 
community. 

One  of  our  near  neighbors  in  Vernon  was 
Mr.  C.  W.  Sawver,  who  with  his  wife  and 
family,  came  in  February  1856,  and  kept  the 
first  hotel  in  town,  a  little  log-  cabin  near  the 
Whitman  spring.  It  was  not  roomy  but  was 
home-like — wath  a  good  table,  clean  beds  and 
tidy  rooms,  and  guests  met  a  cheery  welcome. 
Mr.  Sawyer  was  the  flour  maker  at  the  Harris 
mill  many  years.  He  enlisted  in  Capt.  James 
H.  B.  Harris'  Co.  I,  38th  Iowa  Infantry  in 
August  1862;  w^as  chosen  Second  Sergeant 
and  served  faithfully  and  bravely  for  three 
years  until  the  end  of  the  war.  He  w^as  for 
eleven  years  the  faithful  and  efficient  deputy 
sheriff  of  the  county.  Brother  and  Sister 
Sawyer  were  exemplary  Christians  and  mem- 


77 

bers  of  the  church.  She  died  at  Cresco  Aug-. 
9th,  1888,  and  he  Dec.  14th,  1902.  Of  the  four 
daughters,  Eliza  married  Mr.  Geo.  Snyder; 
Josepihne,  Mr.  H.  Middlebrook;  Carrie,  Mr. 
W.  G.  Wildman,  and  Sarah,  Prof.  L.  E.  A. 
Ling-. 

William  Kellow,  born  in  Cornwall,  Eng-land, 
in  1822;  came  to  the  U.  S.  in  1853,  and  to 
Howard  County  in  1856.  Mr.  Kellow  was  a 
stone  mason,  learning-  his  trade  in  Eng-land,  a 
skillful,  tireless  worker.  He  boug-ht  a  farm 
a  mile  north  of  Vernon,  w^here  himself  and 
family  lived  for  more  than  thirty  years,  sell- 
ino-  to  make  a  home  in  Cresco.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Kellow  were  orig'inal  members  of  the  Vernon 
Spring-s  Methodist  Church,  both  leading-  ex- 
emplary Christian  lives.  Mrs.  Kellow  died 
at  Cresco,  July  2nd,  1901,  and  he  followed  her 
to  the  better  land  June  3rd,  1904,  in  his 
eig-hty-second  year,  leaving-  five  children, 
living-  of  whom  Joseph  is  now  editor  of  the 
Cresco  Republican,  and  William,  one  of 
Cresco's  leading-  and  successful  business  men. 

Pour  young-  Eng-lishmen,  Greg-ory,  Alexan- 
der, Chapman  and  Howard  Marshall,  sons  of 
General  Anthony  Marshall,  a  disting-uished 
officer  of  Eng-ineers  in  the  British  army, 
came  to  Howard  County  m  1857,  and  located 
in  Paris  township  and  built  and  occupied  a 
comfortable  home  a  few  miles  w^est  of  Vernon. 


78 

General  Anthony  Marshall  was  born  in  Cam- 
bridg-e,  England,  in  1791;  educated  at  the 
Military  School  at  Woolwich,  and  at  theag-eof 
seventeen  entered  the  Royal  service  as  Sec- 
ond Lieutenant  of  Eno-ineers.  He  served  with 
Wellintrton  throug-h  the  Peninsular  war  with 
Spain,  and  w^as  later  stationed  in  Eno-land, 
Ireland,  Canada  and  at  Cape  Town,  South 
Africa.  General  Marshall  was  much  inter- 
ested in  our  civil  war  and  a  g-reat  admirer  of 
General  Grant.  HediedatPlymouth,  Eng-land, 
in  May  1865.  The  sons  who  came  to  Howard 
County  were  born,  Greg-ory  at  St.  Johns, 
New  Brunswick,  in  1832;  Alexander  at  Yar- 
mouth Isle  of  Wig-ht,  in  1834;  Chapman  at 
Dublin,  Ireland,  in  1838;  Howard  at  Exeter, 
Eng-land,  in  1840.  Greg-ory  after,  leaving- 
school,  was  employed  in  the  Eng-lish  war 
office.  Alexander  went  to  sea  at  the  ag-e  of 
seventeen,  and  was  a  sailor  until  he  came  to 
Howard  County.  Chapman  was  educated  at 
Plymouth,  went  to  sea  when  fifteen,  as  an 
apprentice;  was  four  years  a  sailor,  being-  sec- 
ond officer  of  the  ship  when  he  left  the  sea  for 
life  as  a  landsman.  Howard  went  with  his 
parents  to  Cork,  Ireland,  when  six  months 
old,  and  to  Cape  Town,  South  Africa,  where 
the  family  remained  nearly  four  years,  Gen- 
eral Marshall  being-  on  duty  there,  returning- 
to  Eng-land  when  relieved. 


79 

Alexander  returned  to  Eng-land  in  1865. 
Greg-ory,  Chapman  and  Howard  made  their 
homes  in  Howard  County  for  many  years, 
with  interesting-  families.  All  were  men  of 
hig-h  character,  g-ood  citizens  and  successful 
business  men. 

Time  and  space  forbid  extension  of  this  list 
much  as  we  would  love  to  continue  it.  John 
M.  Field,  Rev.  P.  S.  Whitman,  Horace  Culver, 
Robert  Gilcrest,  Nathaniel  Niles,  A.  H. 
Harris,  M.  B.  Doolittle,  and  their  families 
were  early  settlers  and  valued  neig-hbors  and 
friends,  and  w^e  w^ould  love  to  make  more 
detailed  notice  of  them.  Of  many  families  no 
member  remains.  Of  some  the  living-  mem- 
bers are  widelv  scattered. 


Chapter  XI. 

During-  the  summer  of  1858  we  built  a  very 
comfortable  stone  house  in  Vernon  Spring's, 
which  was  the  family  home  for  ten  years. 

In  the  spring-  of  1858  I  was  elected  County 
Superintendent  of  Schools  for  Howard  Coun- 
ty, and  held  the  office  for  three  years.  There 
were,  at  the  time  of  my  election,  but  three 
school  houses  in  the  county,  located  at  For- 
reston,  Lime  Spring's  and  Howard  Center. 
The  compensation,  salary  of  the  office,  was 
Si. 50  per  day  for  time  occupied;  increased  to 
$2.00  the  following-  year,  and  a  fee  of  $1.00  for 
examining-  teachers,  on  the  last  Saturday  of 
each  month.  As  the  pay  of  teachers  was  very 
small  I  did  not  collect  from  them  any  exami- 
nation fee.  Meeting's,  prayer  and  preaching-, 
were  well  attended  during-  the  winter  of 
1857-8,  and  the  membership  of  the  little 
church  was  more  than  doubled  by  spring*. 
When  Brother  James  Watson  joined  in  Octo- 
ber 1857,  he  was  a  young-  sing-le  man.  Him- 
self, wife  and  three  g-rown  children  are  now 
members  of  the  church.  Lime  Spring's  was 
one  of  my  reg-ular  appointments,  and  in  July 

[80] 


^J^ 


THE   OLD    HOME   AT   VERNON   SPRINGS 


■       art* 


'h^'f^-' 


81 

1858,  a  church  was  org-anized  with  the  follow- 
ing- members: 

Father  Buckland  and  wife,  Mrs.  M.  M. 
Marsh,  Jacob  Beam.  Father  Adams,  Jones 
Adams  and  Hiram  Hearns. 

Howard  County  and  vicinity  was  our  mis- 
sionary field  of  labor  for  more  than  thirty 
years. 

Beginning-  in  April  1861,  for  four  long- 
anxious  years,  the  subject  of  absorbing-  inter- 
est and  sleepless  anxiety  with  all  patriotic 
citizens  of  Howard  County  was  the  war  for 
the  Union. 

The  first  volunteer  from  Howard  County 
for  the  war  was  my  oldest  son  Charles,  who 
immediately  on  the  President's  first  call  for 
troops  for  ninety  days,  joined  a  company  or- 
g-anizing-  at  Decorah  in  Winneshiek  County, 
which  was  mustered  into  the  service  of  the 
United  States  for  three  years  as  Company 
D,  Third  Iowa  Infantry.  Details  of  his  mili- 
tary life,  are  g-iven  in  a  sketch  appearing- 
later  in  this  book.  He  was  twenty  years  of 
ag-e    at  the  time  of  his  enlistment. 

In  June  1862,  my  second  son,  James,  then 
in  his  seventeenth  year,  enlisted  in  the  Six- 
teenth United  States  Reg-ular  Infantry. 

An  acute  and  serious   illness  impaired  his 


82 

health  to  such  an  extent  that  he  was  dis- 
harg-ed  after  a  few  months  service. 

In  Aiitrust  1862,  the  Sioux  Indians  in  Min- 
nesota raided  the  homes  and  villages  of  set- 
tlers, murdering-  and  mutilating-  men,  women 
and  children,  and  burning-  and  destroying- 
a  large  amount  of  property. 

Encouraged  by  and  taking  advantage  of  the 
war  of  the  Rebellion,  and  incited  by  agents  of 
the  Confederacy,  unscrupulous  and  possibly 
unauthorized,  and  brooding-  over  real  and 
fancied  wrong's  suffered  in  dealing-  with  the 
Government  and  its  ag-ents;  they  took  the  war 
path  and  spread  terror,  death  and  destruc- 
tion through  the  southwestern  part  of  the 
State. 

Many  of  their  outrages  occurred  close  to 
the  Southern  Minnesota  border,  and  thous- 
ands of  people  abandoned  their  homes  and 
fled  for  their  lives  into  Northern  Iowa.  Roads 
from  Minnesota  were  filled  with  terror-strick- 
en fug-itives. 

As  the  field  of  operation  threatened  to  ex- 
tend across  the  border  into  Iowa,  and  some 
families  in  our  immediate  neig-hborhood  were 
hastily  packing-  a  few  thing's  and  leaving-;  a 
company  was  org-anized  and  mounted  for  home 
defense,  armed  with  such  weapons,  rifles  and 
shot  guns  as  were  available,  and  set  out  to 
meet  the  savag-es. 


83 

But  prompt  action  by  Governor  Ramsey 
of  Minnesota,  and  General  Sible}^  with  militia 
and  volunteers,  speedily  overpowered  the 
Indians,  defeating*,  capturing-  and  punishing 
them. 

About  twelve  hundred  Sioux  Indians  were 
engag-ed  in  the  raid.  Governor  Ramsey  esti- 
mated the  loss  of  life  among-  settlers  at  eight 
hundred. 

Five  hundred  Indians  were  captured,  tried 
by  a  Military  Court,  and  three  hundred  sen- 
tenced to  suffer  death  by  hanging.  Of  this 
number  thirty-eight  were  executed  December 
26,  1862. 

Between  twenty  and  thirty  thousand  peo- 
ple had  abandoned  their  homes,  and  the  loss 
of  property  was  estimated  from  two  and  one- 
half  to  three  million  dollars.  The  Howard 
County  company  of  home  guards  did  not  meet 
any  Indians. 

My  son,  Charles  P.  Brown,  was  at  this  time 
Second  Sergeant  of  Company  D,  Third  Regi- 
ment of  Iowa  Infantry,  and  had  seen  more  than 
a  year  of  active  service  in  the  field.  Returning 
to  his  home  on  a  furlough,  he  reached  Decorah 
by  stage  from  McGregor  on  an  evening,  early  in 
September  1862,  when  the  panic  of  the  Minne- 
sota settlers  was  at  its  height  and  the  town 
and  roads  filled  with  refugees. 


84 

Meeting  at  Decorah  a  nei<^'-hbc)r,  Mr.  Hum- 
phrey, a  farmer  livintr  near  the  present  site  of 
Cresco,  in  town  with  a  team  and  g'oing'  home 
that  ni^ht,  my  son  accepted  an  invitation  to 
accompany  him  on  his  ni^ht  ride  home. 
People  were  up  and  alert,  lig-hts  burning-  at 
every  house,  and  the  welcome  of  a  solitary 
wearer  of  the  blue  coat  and  brass  buttons  of 
Uncle  Sam's  uniform  was  inspiring-. 

His  musket  and  cartridge  box  were  far 
away,  but  the  blue  uniform  represented  the 
war  power  of  the  g-overnment,  and  was  looked 
on  as  the  advance  guard  of  military  protection. 

Prom  Mr.  Humphrey's  home,  shortly  after 
midnight,  he  walked  about  four  miles  to  our 
place  in  Vernon.  The  night  was  dark,  and 
knowing  the  excitement  and  apprehension 
prevailing,  he  was  on  the  watch  for  armed 
pickets  or  patrols  on  the  road,  and  had  there 
been  any  would  have  been  in  more  danger 
from  them  than  from  the  Indians.  He  found 
the  roads  clear  and  everything  silent  as  the 
grave.  Reaching  home  about  three  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  he  cautiously  approached  the 
house,  feeling  that  he  was  liable  to  be  mis- 
taken for  an  Indian  and  shot  without  challeng- 
ing. Knocking  carefully  at  the  door  to  avoid 
noise  or  excitement,  and  getting  no  re- 
sponse he  was  about  to  go  to  the  barn  and  find 
a  bed  in  the  hay  mow,  when  an  upper  window 


85 

was  raised  and  a  female  head  in  a  nig-ht  cap, 
with  trembling-  tones  asked,  '*Who  is  there?" 
His  voice,  thoug-h  his  coming*  was  entirely 
unexpected,  was  recog-nized  in  the  reply,  and 
he  was  speedily  admitted  and  warmly  wel- 
comed. I  was  away.  His  mother,  aunt  and 
cousin  Julia  Brown,  and  his  young-er  broth- 
ers, James,  Georg-e  and  Will,  were  the  occu- 
pants of  the  house. 

In  1863  my  son  Charles  applied  for  an 
appointment  for  me  as  Chaplain  of  a  reg-iment 
but  did  not  succeed  in  g-etting-  it  until  near  the 
close  of  the  war.  Early  in  1865  I  went  to 
Memphis,  Tennessee,  and  served  as  Chaplain 
of  the  Eig-hty-eig-hth  U.  S.  C.  Infantry  and 
later  the  Third  U.  S.  C.  Artillery  for  nearly 
a  year. 

In  May  1866,  I  came  home  from  the  army, 
my  reg-iment  being-  mustered  out  of  the  ser- 
vice, and  resumed  pastoral  work  in  Howard 
County. 

I  was  the  teacher  in  the  Vernon  Spring-s 
public  school  several  terms,  beg-inning-  in  the 
fall  of  1858,  the  last  term  being-  that  of  the 
winter  of  1866-7. 

My  pupils,  as  I  recall  them  now,  were 
Emmet  and  James  Doolittle,  Ransom  and 
Emory  White;  Adelbert,  Warren,  Charles  and 
Josiah  Marsh;  Joseph,  William  and  Samuel 
Kellow;  Josephine,  Carrie  and  Sarah  Sawyer; 


86 

Mary  Webster,  Luella  Bowers,  Cora  Fields, 
Marv  Tibbets,  Catherine  and  Minnie  Harris; 
Julius  Doolittle,  Benton  Richards,  Charles 
Burdick,  GeorjOfe  and  William  C.  Brown. 

These  are  all  I  can  recall  of  the  fifty-seven 
who  attended  the  last  term.  The  names  of 
those  who  attended  previously,  as  I  now  re- 
member them,  are  as  follows: 

John,  James,  Abram  and  Elizabeth  Allen; 
Charles  P.  and  James  D.  Brown;  Sylvester, 
Marg-aret,  Michael,  James,  Daniel  and  Jerry 
Barnes;  Adelbert,  William  and  Henry  Bowers; 
Georg-e  H.,  Henry  and  Isaac  Culver;  Elmira 
Clouse,  Walter  Doolittle,  Adeline  P.  Fall, 
Arvilla  and  Sylvia  Fall;  Ella  and  Alice  Fields, 
William  Fitzg-erald,  Frank  and  Inez  Gilcrest, 
Murray  and  John  Gilcrest,  Robert  Gilcrest, 
Silas  and  Abram  Harris,  Hattie,  Charles  and 
Samantha  Hill;  John  and  Ella  Irvin,  Maria 
and  Mary  Kellow,  Fannie  Moore,  Louisa  and 
Emma  Niles,  Stephen  and  Lydia  Niles,  Stone 
Neff,  Marg-aret,  William  and  Nettie  Richards; 
Albert  Siddall  and  Eliza  Sawyer. 

Georg-e  H.  Culver  enlisted  with  Stone  Neff 
in  Company  "D,"  Third  Iowa  Infantry. 

Georg-e  served  faithfully  and  bravely  and 
was  killed  before  Atlanta,  Georg-ia;  when 
Hood  assaulted  Sherman's  lines  July  22, 
1864.  Stone  Neff  was  a  g-ood  soldier,  but  was 
too  frail  to  stand  the  hardships   of  army  life. 


V. 


87 

His  health   failed  and  he  was   discharged  for 
disability  early  in  the  war. 

I  cannot  now  recall  any  of  my  scholars  who 
did  not  become  w^orthy  and  reputable  men  and 
women. 

They  w^ere  all  good  and  I  loved  them,  and 
love  to  recall  them  now\ 

The  McGreg-or  Western  Railway  Company 
was  organized  January  19,  1863,  and  con- 
struction work  begun  in  March,  and  the  road 
completed  to  Monona,  14  miles,  in  a  year.  It 
was  extended  to  Postville  and  Centralia  in 
1864,  to  Conover  in  1865  and  to  Cresco  in  1866. 

In  1867  a  fifty  mile  gap  between  Cresco  and 
Austin  was  built,  making  a  continuous  line 
from  McGregor  to  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis, 
which  was  operated  as  the  Iowa  and  Minne- 
sota Division  of  the  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul 

road. 

My  son  Charles  was  employed  by  the  con- 
tractors,Mather  &  G  reene,  from  Cresco  to  Aus- 
tin in  1867,  as  time-keeper  and  accountant,  and 
in  August  James  began  work  at  Cresco  with 
the  engineers  who  located  the  Iowa  and  Da- 
kota Division  west  from  Calmar. 

In  the  spring  of  1868  I  went  with  Mrs. 
Brown  and  my  younger  sons,  George  and 
Willie,  to  Thompson,  in  Carroll  County,  Illi- 
nois, where  I  was  pastor  of  the  York  Baptist 
Church  for  two  years,   returning  to  Iowa  in 


88 

the  sprinn-  of  1870,  to  make  a  home  at  Lime 
Si)ring-s,  in  Howard  County. 

Durinn-  this  summer  we  erected  a  Baptist 
house  of  worship,  and  in  1871,  I  built  a  com- 
fortable, pleasant  home  for  myself  and  family. 

My  sister,  Mrs.  Ann  B.  Kelly,  made  her 
home  with  us  during  the  summer  of  1871,  and 
a  comfortable  pleasant  room  was  built  espe- 
cially for  her  in  the  new  house,  but  she  died 
before  the  house  was  completed,  and  was 
buried  from  the  log- cabin  built  by  Esq.  Marsh 
in  1855,  in  the  old  town  of  Lime  Springs, 
which  we  occupied  during-  the  construction  of 
our  new  house. 


Chapter  XII. 

In  1870  and  1871,  at  the  time  we  made  our 
home  at  Lime  Springs,  my  sons  were  em- 
ployed; Charles  at  Ottumwa,  Iowa,  in  the 
Internal  Revenue  service  of  the  Government; 
James,  George  and  Will  all  at  work  for  the 
Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  Railway  Company; 
James  with  the  locatinor  eno-ineers  on  the 
Charles  City  Branch;  Will  in  the  trainmas- 
ter's office  at  Minneapolis,  and  Georg^e  a  train- 
man on  line  between  McGreg-or  and  St.  Paul; 
so,  save  for  visits  from  the  children  we  occu- 
pied the  home  alone. 

With  the  exception  of  a  year,  from  the  fall 
of  1875  to  October  1876,  in  central  New  York, 
it  was  our  home  for  nearly  twenty  years. 

I  was  not  reg'ularly  connected  with  any 
church  as  pastor  during-  much  of  this  time, 
but  was  engag'ed  in  pastoral  work  at  Lime 
Spring's,  and  supplying*  churches  in  neig^hbor- 
ing*  towns. 

On  the  evening-  of  September  1,  1871,  my 
son  George,  who  was  brakeman  on  a  passen- 
g-er  train  between  St.  Paul  and  McGregor; 
while  coupling  the  sleeper  on  the  train  at  St. 
Paul  Junction,  was  caught   between  the  plat- 

[89] 


90 

forms  of  the  sleeper  and  rear  coach,  receivino- 

injuries  resultinjj- in  his  death  within  an  hour. 

His  ei<J-hteenth  birthday  occurred  on  the 
twenty-ninth  of  July  preceding-.  His  cheery, 
affectionate  disposition  endeared  him  to  all, 
and  his  sudden  trag-ic  death  was  a  dreadful 
shock  and  was  loner  and  deeply  mourned. 

In  the  fall  of  1875  Mrs.  Brown  and  myself 
went  to  New  York  and  remained  a  year  with 
relatives  and  old  friends  and  acquaintances  in 
Herkimer  and  Madison  Counties.  During- 
this  time  I  supplied  the  churches  at  Russia 
and  Poland  in  the  absence  of  a  reg-ularly  in- 
stalled pastor.  We  w^ere  with  my  father 
during-  his  last  illness,  at  Madison,  where  he 
died  September  23,  1876,  in  his  eig-hty-seventh 
year,  We  returned  to  Iowa  in  October  and 
ag-ain  located  at  Lime  Spring's,  where  I  re- 
sumed pastorship  of  the  church. 

In  October  1877,  I  was  elected  to  represent 
Howard  County  in  the  Iowa  Legislature  and 
served  one  term,  declining-  to  be  a  candidate 
for  re-election. 

During-  the  session  the  following-  winter  I 
introduced  a  resolution  to  amend  the  State 
Constitution  so  as  to  authorize  a  majority  of 
a  jury  in  civil  cases  to  bring-  in  a  verdict.  It 
passed  the  House  by  a  larg-e  majority,  but  was 
pig-eon-holed  in  the  Senate. 


91 

The  followino-  is  a  brief  of  my  arg-ument  in 
support  of  my   resolution: 

"Mr.  Speaker — The  proposed  amendment  of 
the  Ninth  Section,  Article  1st,  of  the  Constitution 
makes  no  change  in  our  present  trial  jury  system 
or  the  rules  by  which  it  is  governed.  It  will  sim- 
ply remove  the  constitutional  obstacle  in  the  way 
of  some  future  legislature  if  it  shall  see  fit  in  its 
wisdom  to  authorize  less  than  a  unanimous  ver- 
dict. (The  resolution  was  amended  so  as  to  con- 
fine it  to  civil  cases.) 

I  think  the  gentleman  from  Marion  (Ex-Govern- 
or Wm.  M.  Stone)  is  mistaken  when  he  says  the 
rule  which  requires  a  unanimous  verdict  came 
down  from  the  distant  ages  of  the  past.  In  the 
early  history  of  the  jury  system  the  unanimity 
rule  governing  verdicts  was  not  known.  A  major- 
ity of  the  jury  was  competent  to  deliver  a  verdict. 
This  was  the  rule  in  England  for  a  long  series  of 
years.  The  unanimity  rule  was  the  result  of 
gradual  changes  in  the  system.  It  is  now  a  rule 
peculiar  to  the  English  common  law.  No  other 
nation  on  the  continent  of  Europe  has  ever  adopt- 
ed it. 

I  offer  the  following  reasons  why  this  unanimity 
rule  governing  the  verdict  of  juries  should  be 
changed: 

1.  The  rule  is  unreasonable.  As  pertinent  and 
emphatic  proof  of  this  proposition,  we  quote  the 
language  of  the  learned  editor  of  Blackstone's 
Commentaries,  Vol.  2,  Book  2,  page  375,  who 
says:     *The  unanimity    of  twelve   men  so  repug- 


02 


nant  to  all  experience  of  human  conduct,  passions 
and  understandings  could  hardly  in  any  age  have 
been  introduced  into  practice  by  a  deliberate  act 
of  the  legislature.' 

Hence  this  rule  is  illegitimate  so  far  as  statute 
law  is  concerned,  too  absurd,  too  unreasonable  for 
any  legislative  body  in  any  age  to  have  deliberately 
introduced  it  into  practice. 

It  is  in  fact  a  come-by-chance,  nursed  by  the 
English  Courts  until,  with  many  other  absurdities 
it  became  a  part  of  her  common  law. 

2.  The  rule  is  utterly  inconsistent  with  and 
subversive  of  the  very  principles  which  underlie 
our  Republican  institutions. 

Introduce  this  rule  of  unanimity  into  our  elec- 
tions, into  Congress  and  all  departments  of  its  bus- 
iness, into  our  legislative  business,  into  our  com- 
mittee business,  how  many  bills  of  a  general 
character  would  be  reported  and  how  many  bills 
of  a  general  character  would  pass  and  become 
laws?  Introduce  this  rule  into  our  higher  courts, 
what  would  be  the  result?  Cases  without  number 
never  decided.  We  must  decide  matters,  how- 
ever weighty  and  whatever  may  be  the  conse- 
quences, by  majorities.  That  is  the  fundamental 
rule  of  a  Republican  government,  of  all  Republi- 
can institutions.  Discard  this  rule  and  the  entire 
machinery  comes  to  a  disastrous  standstill. 

3.  Its  direct  and  practical  tendency  is  to  pro- 
tract litigation  and  greatly  increase  its  expense. 
The  truth  of  this  proposition  is  notoriously  obvi- 
ous;   so  constantly   corroborated  by  the  observa- 


93 

tion  and  experience  of  everyone,  as  to  render 
proof  or  illustration  unnecessary.  Cases  innum- 
erable have  lingered  in  the  courts  for  years  which 
might  have  been  decided  on  their  first  hearing  if 
the  verdict  of  eight  or  nine  intelligent  men  had 
been  decisive.  Finally  in  the  end  court  expenses 
and  attorneys'  fees  have  eaten  up  the  judgment 
obtained  and  impoverished  both  parties  to  the 
contest. 

4.  The  rule  of  unanimity  puts  into  the  hands  of 
one  man  the  absolute  and  efficient  power  of  de- 
feating the  ends  of  justice.  It  matters  not  wheth- 
er that  one  man  is  the  personification  of  obstina- 
cy, stupidity,  ignorance,  or  the  most  intelligent 
person  in  the  community.  No  such  power  can 
safely  be  entrusted  to  any  man.  It  is  despotism 
on  the  side  of  crime  and  injustice.  The  unanimity 
rule  has  opened  a  field  in  which  shrewd  attorneys 
have  achieved  some  of  their  most  signal  victories, 
not  in  the  interest  of  justice  and  right,  but  in  the 
interest  of  injustice,  crime  and  wrong.  If  the 
attorney  finds  there  is  no  merit  in  his  client's 
case,  and  no  possible  hope  of  obtaining  a  verdict 
in  his  favor,  his  next  object,  and  to  compass  it  no 
stone  is  left  unturned,  is  to  divide  the  jury.  A 
new  trial  is  ordered  and  the  same  thing  is  repeated 
and  the  prosecution  is  worried  and  worn  out  and 
the  guilty  go  free. 

And  then  if  money  is  to  be  used  to  defeat  the 
ends  of  justice,  how  much  more  easily  one  man 
can  be  corrupted  than  three  or  four,  and  the  cor- 
ruption of  one   man  defeats   a  verdict   under  the 


94 


present  rule,  as  surely  as  the  corruption  of   a  half 
dozen. 

5.  It  is  a  coercive  rule,  or  to  use  a  very  ex- 
pressive word  of  American  coinage,  it  is  a  bull- 
dozing rule.  It  provides  if  twelve  men  do  not 
voluntarily  agree  on  a  verdict,  to  bulldoze  them 
into  a  verdict. 

There  was  a  time  in  England  when  the  jury 
consisted  of  more  than  twelve  men,  and  a  majority 
verdict  was  the  rule.  It  afterwards  became  the 
rule  that  at  least  twelve  of  the  number  must  agree 
and  if  that  number  did  not  agree  the  jury  were 
reinforced  or  others  added  to  it  until  the  requisite 
number  twelve  was  obtained.  The  number  of 
jurymen  was  diminished  from  time  to  time  until  it 
was  cut  down  to  twelve,  and  then  commenced  the 
unanimity  rule,  and  about  this  time  the  courts, 
finding  their  business  blocked  by  the  frequent  dis- 
agreement of  the  jury,  found  it  necessary  to  resort 
to  coercive  measures  to  enforce  agreement  and 
obtain  verdicts.  The  jury  was  locked  up  in  a 
room  without  fire,  food,  drink  or  light  and  for  any 
length  of  time  at  the  pleasure  of  the  court.  The 
jury  was  fined  if  they  ate  anything  without  con- 
sent of  the  court  before  finding  a  verdict,  and  if 
the  jury  did  not  agree  on  a  verdict  by  the  time  the 
court  adjourned  and  was  ready  to  leave  for  an- 
other part  of  the  circuit,  they  were,  by  order  of 
the  court,  hauled  around  the  circuit  from  town 
to  town  in  a  cart.  This  same  common  law  bull- 
dozing rule,  except  the  cart  part,  has  been  in  full 
force  and  virtue  in  the  older  states  of  this  country, 


95 

and  that  too,  within  the  recollection  of  some  of  the 
members  of  the  present  General  Assembly. 

Coercion  does  not  necessarily  imply  or  require 
physical  force,  but  any  influence  which  impels  a 
person  contrary  to  his  calm,  unbiased  convictions. 
The  barbarous  means  which  the  English  courts 
resorted  to  to  enforce  unanimity,  such  as  hunger, 
thirst,  cold,  darkness  and  jolting  carts  over  rough 
roads,  may  have  been  set  aside,  but  confinement 
and  other  potent  influences,  coercive  in  their  char- 
acter, design  and  effect,  have  taken  their  places. 

But  the  most  abhorrent  feature  of  this  coercing 
a  verdict  is,  the  jury  is  first  put  under  the  solemni- 
ties of  an  oath,  which  should  shield  them  from  all 
coercive  influences  in  their  deliberations  and  in 
reaching  their  conclusions. 

Agreement  produced  by  such  influences  does  not 
add  strength  or  virtue  to  the  verdict. 

Perhaps  it  will  be  said  that  in  the  United  States 
nearly  all  the  odious  measures  so  generally  resort- 
ed to  in  former  times  to  enforce  a  verdict  under  the 
unanimity  rule  have  been  done  away  with.  This 
may  be  true  to  a  very  great  extent  while  the  evil 
consequences  of  the  absurd  rule  are  in  full  force 
to  defeat  the  ends  of  justice  and  to  render  litigation 
long  and  expensive." 

So  long"  as  our  legislative  bodies  are  made 
up  largely  of  lawyers  it  can  scarcely  be  hoped 
that  measures  looking  to  simplifying  litigation 
— expediting-  and  reducing  cost — will  meet 
with  favor. 


06 

The  vear  1S77  will  Ionic  he  rememhered  as 
one  of  serious  labor  troubles — and  in  north- 
ern Iowa  as  the  first  of  a  series  of  disastrous 
failures  of  the  spring-  wheat  crop,  which  had 
for  years  been  the  main  dependence  of  our 
farmers.  Many  of  the  early  settlers  lost 
their  farms,  <^Mvino-  up  the  strug-crle  and  ag-ain 
becoming-  pioneers  in  Dakota,  Nebraska  and 
Kansas. 

The  wheat  crop  of  that  year,  up  to  the  time 
the  berry  was  in  the  milk,  or  doug-h  stag-e, 
was  very  promising-;  but  at  this  critical  per- 
iod, very  hot  weather,  with  frequent  showers, 
followed  by  a  blazing-  sun,  cooked  and  blasted 
the  wheat,  utterly  destroying-  it. 

Seed  and  labor  were  lost  and  the  brig-ht 
hopes  of  the  husbandman  blig-hted  in  a  day. 


Chapter  XIII. 

In  1879  I  built  a  house  south  of  the  depot  in 
Lime  Spring's,  located  across  the  street 
from  my  son,  James  D.  Brown,  at  that  time 
station  agfent  at  Lime  Spring-s.  This  was  our 
last  earthly  home,  and  one  of  the  pleasantest 
we  ever  had.  During-  the  following-  ten 
years  I  had  no  reg-ular  charge,  but  supplied 
the  churches  at  Cresco,  Fort  Atkinson,  and 
other  places,  which  were  without  pastors. 

Mrs.  Brown  and  I  spent  a  good  deal  of  time 
visiting-  our  children  living-  in  Ottumwa,  Iowa, 
and  Beardstown,  Illinois.  In  September, 
1882,  an  epidemic  of  diphtheria  broke  out  in 
Lime  Springs,  and  Frances,  young-est  daug-h- 
ter  of  my  son  James,  and  Eddie,  the  only  son 
of  my  son  Willie,  whose  family  was  at  home 
on  a  visit,  were  among-  the  early  victims  of  the 
dread  disease. 

Many  children  in  the  villag-e  and  vicinity 
were  smitten  with  the  malady,  and  almost 
every  case  w^as  fatal. 

It  was  an  autumn  of  g-rief  and  sorrow  for 
our  family. 

On  September  2,  a  daug-hter.  Bertha  Ade- 
laide, was  born  to  W.  C.  and  Ella  H.  Brown, 

[97] 


08 

and  this  bcihy  ^i'irl  was  only  about  a  week  old 
when  the  little  boy  died.  On  the  day  Bertha 
was  born,  and  in  the  same  house,  a  dau^-hter 
was  born  to  Clara  Lacey,  a  sister  of  Mrs. 
Brown. 

On  June  12,  1887,  in  this  last  of  our  homes, 
occurred  the  death  of  my  beloved  wife,  and 
we  laid  her  beside  the  children  and  ^rand 
children  in  the  beautiful  cemetery  located  on 
the  hillside  where  so  many  of  the  old  neig-h- 
bors  and  friends  had  preceded  her. 

The  funeral  sermon  was  preached  by  Rev. 
J.  M.  Wedg-ewood.  I  had  many  years  before, 
discharg-ed  a  similar  sad  duty  at  the  funeral 
of  his  wife. 

For  nearly  fifty  years  she  was  my  constant 
companion  and  helpmeet. 

Her  cheerful,  sunny  disposition  made  itself 
felt  through  all  these  years,  in  the  lonely 
cabin  on  the  frontier,  or  the  more  comfortable 
home  in  the  East.  Whatever  of  success  at- 
tended my  labors  in  the  ministry,  and  the 
success  attained  and  positions  of  honor  and 
trust  g-ained  by  our  sons,  are  largely  due  to 
the  loving-  care  and  instruction  of  the  sainted 
wife  and  mother. 

For  a  few^  years  after  her  death  I  remained 
at  the  home  in  Lime  Spring's,  keeping-  every- 
thing so  far  as  possible  as  it  was  left  by  her 
loving  hands. 


99 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  C.  C.  Hewitt,  old  neig-hbors 
and  kind  friends,  occupied  the  house  with  me. 
Their  daughter,  Ella,  was  the  wife  of  my  son, 
W.  C.  Brown. 

While  it  was  my  home,  containing*  many 
thing's  recalling-  happy  days  of  the  past,  ^one 
never  to  return,  much  of  my  time  was  spent 
visiting-  relatives  and  friends. 

With  advancing-  years,  the  rig-or  of  our  nor- 
thern Iowa  winters,  felt  more  than  in  young-- 
er  days,  led  me  to  make  my  home  with  my 
children  living  farther  south. 

I  write  these  recollections  in  1893,  at  the 
home  of  my  son,  W.  C.  Brown,  at  St.  Joseph, 
Missouri,  where  I  have  been  for  a  larg-e  part 
of  the  time  during*  the  last  three  years- 

My  sons  and  their  families  have  been  very 
kind  and  considerate,  and  done  much  to  com- 
fort and  cheer  me  in  my  old  ag-e  and  loneliness. 
I  praise  God  for  His  g-oodness  in  sparing-  my 
life,  and  g-ranting-  me  the  unspeakable  joy  of 
attending-  six  semi-centennial  Jubilee  Ser- 
vices, namely: 

The  fiftieth  anniversaries: 

Of  the  Baptist  Church  at  Davenport,  of 
which  I  was  one  of  the  first  pastors. 

Of  the  Baptist   Church   at    Danville,  Iowa. 

Of  the  Maquoketa  Church,  the  first  one  or- 
g-anized  by  me  west  of  the  Mississippi  river. 


100 

Of  the  Davenport  Association,  which  I  as- 
sisted in  ort^'-anizing-. 

Of  the  Baptist  Church  in  Cordova,  Illinois. 

Of  the  Des  Moines  Baptist  Association,  the 
first  west  of  the  Mississippi  and  north  of 
Missouri. 

When  I  recall  the  many  who  were  fellow 
laborers  with  me  in  the  precious  work  a  half 
century  ag-o,  and  realize  how  few  remain,  my 
heart  is  filled  wnth  g-ratitude  to  God  for  His 
^reat  merc}^  to  me. 

I  also  realize,  with  cheerful  confidence  and 
faith  in  His  loving-  kindness,  which  has  fol- 
lowed me  all  the  days  of  my  life,  that  the  hour 
of  my  departure  cannot  be  far  away. 

That  God  will  bless  and  in  infinite  love  and 
tenderness  overshadow  and  keep  the  beloved 
Churches  with  which  I  have  been  connected, 
and  all  the  Israel  of  God,  is  my  earnest  daily 
prayer. 

At  the  request  of  my  children  I  insert  some 
papers,  political  and  historical,  which  they 
deem  of  interest  and  worthy  of  preservation. 

These  "recollections"  as  an  autobiog-raphy 
closed  in  the  fall  of  1893,  and  later  events  are 
g-iven  by  a  son. 

Father  made  his  home  principally  with  my 
brother,  W.  C.  Brown,  at  St.  Joseph,  Mo., 
until  January  1,  1896,  and  then  in  Chicag-o, 
where  he  was  cared  for  w4th  loving-  kindness. 


101 

In  the  fall  of  1898  he  came  to  Ottumwa  to 
make  his  home  with  Benjamin  P.  Brown,  his 
grandson,  and  remained  until  his  death.  Ben 
and  his  wife,  Laura  Kendall,  were  very  pleas- 
ant young-  people;  kind,  thoug-htful  and  con- 
siderate, and  their  little  daug-hter.  Prances, 
was  a  favorite  with  father. 

Everything-  possible  was  done  for  his  com- 
fort and  convenience,  and  he  was  as  contented 
and  happy  as  anyone  could  be  under  similar 
conditions. 

Nothing-  could  make  g-ood  the  loss  of  his 
loved  and  life-long  companion,  and  he  never 
ceased  to  miss  and  mourn  her. 

Early  in  the  year  1900  my  brother,  W.  C. 
Brown,  boug-ht  a  handsome,  well  located  resi- 
dence in  Ottumwa,  expressly  for  father's  use, 
and  it  was  occupied  by  Ben  and  his  family  for 
a  home  for  father. 

For  more  than  a  year  preceding-  his  death,  a 
capable  attendant  was  employed,  g-iving-  his 
entire  time  to  caring-  for  father  and  adminis- 
tering- to  his  wants. 

He  was  a  remarkably  active  man  for  his 
age,  and  retained  full  possession  of  his  fac- 
ulties to  the  day  of  his  death. 

DEATH. 

Rev.  Charles  E.  Brown  died  in  Ottumwa, 
Iowa,  at  the  residence  of  his  g-randson,  Ben- 


102 

jainin  P.  Brown,  on  Tuesday,  July  23,  1^)01, 
in  his  eig-hty-ninth  year,  from  old  ag-e. 

His  obituary  contained  the  following"  notice: 

"Mr.  Brown  was  a  man  of  more  than  ordi- 
nary ability,  and  began  his  active  life  work 
with  a  much  better  education  than  theaverag-e 
young  man  of  his  time. 

"His  choice  of  a  vocation  came  from  a  pro- 
found sense  of  duty,  and  he  was  a  faithful, 
zealous  and  devoted  worker  in  his  calling- 
until  past  sixty  years  of  ag-e.  In  choosing- 
fields  of  labor  he  sought  those  among-  pioneers 
in  the  far  West:  plain,  earnest  people  in  the 
humbler  walks  of  life,  and  the  question  of 
compensation  was  hardly  considered. 

"Had  he  been  ambitious  he  would  have  at- 
tained high  rank  in  the  ministry. 

"Sincere,  earnest,  unselfish  and  self-sacri- 
ficing, he  was  not  worldly  minded. 

"Clear  and  decided  in  his  views  on  all  ques- 
tions of  public  interest  he  held  and  advocated 
them  fearlessly. 

"His  ideas  of  life  were  serious;  but  under  a 
sober,  thoughtful  manner,  he  had  a  warm, 
g-enerous  heart,  and  was  ever  ready  with 
kindly  sympathy  and  assistance  for  those  in 
trouble  or  affliction. 

"Death  came  in  his  eighty-ninth  year,  from 
a  g-radual  failing  of  his  vital  powders,  and  the 
end  was  peaceful  and  painless." 


MONUMENT   IN   CEMETERY   AT   LIME  SPRINGS.    IOWA. 


103 

His  remains  were  laid  in  the  cemetery  at 
Lime  Spring's,  Iowa,  by  the  side  of  those  of 
his  loved  companion,  who  had  g-one  before  to 
a  better  land. 


FrcDices  Lyon  was  born  April  15,  1813,  at 
Oppenheim,  in  Pulton  county,  New  York,  the 
sixth  dauofhter  of  Doctor  Benjamin  Lyon  and 
Margaret  Duncan,  his  wife. 

On  July  5,  1820,  her  mother  died,  and  on 
May  26,  1822,  her  father  married  again,  and 
died  October  24,  1826. 

Doctor  Benjamin  Lyon  was  a  practicing- 
physician;  educated,  capable  and  skillful  in 
his  profession;  of  high  character  as  a  man; 
leading  and  influential;  loved  and  respected 
by  neighbors  and  friends. 

Margaret  Duncan,  his  wife,  was  a  daug-hter 
of  John  Duncan,  a  Scotchman  of  means  and 
prominence,  who  came  to  New  York  at  an 
early  day  and  located  near  Schenectady,  es- 
tablishing- a  home,  whose  broad  acres  were 
known  as  the  ''Hermitag-e. " 

Panny  Lyon's  home  after  her  parents' 
death  was  for  some  years  before  her  mar- 
riag-e,  at  Little  Palls,  Herkimer  county.  New 
York,  with  an  older  sister,  Julia,  wife  of 
Stephen  W.  Brown,  a  leading-,  influential  and 
well  to  do  merchant. 


104 

Here,  h.'Liulsoine,  educated,  accomplished 
and  winnintf,  she  was  prominent  in  the  ^ay 
social  life  of  a  charmintr  circle  of  bri^rht  youn^ 
people.     It  was  an  ideal  home. 

Mrs.  Stephen  W.  Brown  w^as  an  exception- 
ally cajKible,  gifted  and  accomplished  woman, 
and  a  brilliant  social  leader. 

Her  husband  was  a  g-entleman  of  the  high- 
est character,  popular  in  business  and  poli- 
tics, g-enial,  g-enerous  and  hospitable,  with  a 
noble  face  and  commanding-  presence,  larg-ely 
interested  in  trade  and  manufactures,  and  for 
a  time  ''Ilig-Ji  Sherijf  of  Herkimer  county. 

At  Little  Falls,  in  the  spring-  of  1838,  oc- 
curred a  revival  of  relig-ion  that  attracted 
widespread  interest  The  meeting-s  w^ere 
conducted  by  Rev.  Phillip  Perry  Brown,  an 
able,  earnest  and  zealous  Baptist  minister. 

Georg-e  D.  Lyon,  a  successful  young-  mer- 
chant of  Little  Falls,  unmarried  and  making- 
his  home  with  his  sisters,  Mrs.  Stephen  W. 
Brown  and  Fanny  Lyon,  was  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  church,  and  with  his  sister  Fanny, 
attended  the  meeting-s. 

Charles  Edwin  Brown,  a  son  of  the  presid- 
ing- minister,  a  theological  student  just  from 
the  university  at  Hamilton,  young-,  zealous, 
able  and  enthusiastic  in  his  chosen  calling-  of 
the  ministry,  was  present  assisting-  his  father 
In  carrying-  on  the  work.     He  became  a  g-ue?t 


105 

of  Stephen  W.  Brown's  family  during-  the 
meeting-,  and  was  cordially  received  and  en- 
tertained. 

Fanny  Lyon  was  an  interested  attendant  of 
the  revival  services,  and  became  a  convert. 

The  acquaintance  of  the  young-  people  thus 
thrown  tog-ether,  ripened  into  love,  and  g-iving- 
up  a  brig-ht  and  promising-  future  in  a  worldly 
way,  she  became,  September  26,  1838,  the  wife 
of  a  minister,  possessed  of  nothing-  but 
health,  a  g-ood  education,  ability  of  a  hig-h 
order,  and  zeal  and  sincerity  in  his  calling-. 
Possibly  the  extent  of  the  sacrifice  was  not 
fully  realized.  It  was  a  life  of  toil,  trial  and 
self-denying-  economy,  doing-  larg-ely  for 
others,  and  looking-  to  the  future  for  its  re- 
ward and  compensation.  But  it  was  in  the 
line  of  duty,  and  its  faithful  performance 
broug-ht  an  approving-  conscience.  She  dis- 
charg-ed  all  its  duties  loyally  and  well;  bore 
her  share  of  its  burdens,  and  contributed 
fully  to  its  joys. 

She  was  a  consistent  Christian,  a  devoted, 
loving-  wife  and  mother,  and  a  model  home- 
maker;  always  cheerful  and  hopeful. 

Death  came  at  the  home  in  Lime  Spring-s, 
Iowa,  June  12,  1887,  after  a  long-  illness,  borne 
with  Christian  patience,  faith  and  fortitude. 

The  children  of  Rev.  Charles  E.  and  Fran- 
ces Lyon  Brown  were: 


106 

J)r)i/(if}ii)i  Perry  JiroivJi,  l)orn  in  the  Baptist 
parsonag-e  at  Norway,  Herkimer  county,  New 
York,  July  30,  1830,  and  was  drowned  at 
Brown's  ford  in  the  Ma([uoketa  river,  near 
Maquoketa,  Iowa,  on  the  afternoon  of  June  20, 
1848,  when  nearly  nine  years  of  a«-e. 

He  was  in  many  lovable  ways  a  remarkable 
little  fellow,  ])ritrht  and  playful,  but  thoutrht- 
ful  and  considerate,  conscientious  and  of  a  de- 
votional turn  of  mind,  unusual  for  a  child. 
He  won  and  held  the  warmest  love  of  his  par- 
ents. A  most  promising-  life  was  cut  short 
by  his  untimely  death. 

His  loss  was  a  crushing-  blow  to  his  parents, 
and  his  mother  never  ceased  to  mourn  him  to 
the  end  of  her  long-  life. 

Sketch  of  Charles  Perry  Brozvn,  published 
in  a  ^'Biog-raphical  History  of  Wapello  Coun- 
ty," at  Ottumwa,  Iowa,  in  1901. 

"Captain  Charles  P.  Brown  was  born  near 
Little  Palls,  Herkimer  county,  New  York, 
October  30,  1840,  the  son  of  Rev.  Charles  E. 
and  Prances  Lyon-Brown. 

"His  father  was  a  Baptist  minister,  a  g-rad- 
uate  of  Madison  University,  who  came  to  Iowa 
in  May,  1842,  as  a  Missionary  by  appointment 
from  the  American  Baptist  Home  Mission 
Society,  locating-  first  at  Maquoketa,  Jackson 
county,  and  the  following-  fall  at  Davenport. 
After  nine  years  of  arduous  and  successful 


107 

labor  in  his  calling-,  failing-  health  necessitated 
his  return  to  New  York  in  May,  1851,  where 
he  spent  six  years  in  central  and  western 
counties,  returning  to  Iowa  in  July,  1857,  to 
make  a  home,  in  Howard  county. 

"Captain  Brown's  mother,  a  noble  Christ- 
ian   woman,  and   a   devoted,    loving-   wife    and 
mother,  was  a  daughter  of   Doctor   Benjamin 
Lyon,  of  Herkimer  county.  New  York,  whose 
wife,    Mrs.    Brown's    mother,    was    Margaret 
Duncan,  daughter  of  John  Duncan,  a  promi- 
nent Scotchman,  who  left  his  native  land  on 
account  of  political  disturbances,  and  settled 
near  Schenectady,  New  York,  at  an  early  day. 
*-The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated 
in  the  common  schools  of  New  York  and  Iowa, 
and  was  a  teacher  in  country  district  schools 
in  northern   Iowa  during  the  winter  terms  of 
1859,  1860  and  1861.     He  was  the  first  volun- 
teer from   Howard  county  for   the  Civil  war, 
enlisting-  about  April  20,  1861,  in  the  Decorah 
Guards,  a  Winneshiek  county  company,  which 
was  mustered  into  the  service  of  the  United 
States  as  Company  D,  Third  reg-iment,  Iowa 
Volunteer  Infantry,  at  Keokuk,    Iowa.      The 
First,  Second  and  Third  reg-iments  of  Iowa 
Infantry  were  organized  at  Keokuk  about  the 
same   time,   all    being   there   together   before 
any  left  for  the  field. 

"At  the  organization   of  his   company,  Mr. 


108 

Brown  was  elected  third  corporal,  and  in 
March,  18()2,  was  promoted  to  second  ser- 
g-eant.  He  was  made  first  lieutenant  of  artil- 
lery in  May,  18()3,  and  in  September,  1864, 
was  appointed  captain  and  assistant  adjutant 
o-eneral  of  volunteers  by  President  Lincoln, 
holdintr  that  position  until  discharged  in  Dec- 
ember, 1865.  He  served  continuously  from 
April  25,  1861,  until  December  31,  1865,  four 
years  and  ei^ht  months,  when  he  was  honor- 
ably discharofed  by  order  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment, for  the  reason  that  his  services  were 
no  long-er  required.  He  was  on  staff  duty 
about  four  years,  as  regimental  and  brig-ade 
quartermaster,  aide-de-camp,  and  assistant 
adjutant  g-eneral,  serving-  more  than  a  year 
with  Major  General  Stephen  A.  Hurlbut,  who 
commanded  the  Fourth  Division,  Army  of  the 
Tennessee,  at  Pittsburg*  Landing-,  Shiloh  and 
Corinth,  and  later  the  Sixteenth  Army  Corps, 
and  the  Department  of  the  Gulf.  He  was  in 
every  battle  and  campaign  in  which  his  com- 
mand was  eng-ag-ed. 

"After  leaving-  the  army.  Captain  Brown  re- 
turned to  his  home  in  Vernon  Spring's,  How- 
ard county,  Iowa;  and  was  married  Aug-ust  30, 
1866,  to  Adeline  Fall,  daug-hter  of  Rev.  Georg-e 
W.  Fall,  of  Howard  county.  He  came  to  Ot- 
tumwa,  March  1,  1871,  as  clerk  in  the  office  of 
General     John     M.    Hedrick,     supervisor    of 


109 

United  States  internal  revenue  for  a  district 
comprising- eig^ht  northwestern  states  and  ter- 
ritories, and  was  soon  after  appointed  United 
States  Internal  Revenue  Ag-ent  on  the  recom- 
mendation of  General  liedrick,  and  served  in 
that  capacity  until  October,  1881,  resig-ning- 
on  account  of  failing-  health.  The  Ottumwa 
National  Bank  was  then  org-anizing-  and  Cap- 
tain Brown  was  oifered  and  accepted  the  posi- 
tion of  cashier.  In  Aug-ust,  1883,  he  left  the 
bank  to  become  auditor  of  the  coal  mining-, 
railroad  and  supply  companies  owned  and  op- 
erated by  J.  C.  Osg-ood.  This  work  proving- 
too  arduous,  was  g-iven  up  in  July,  1884,  and 
for  three  years  he  w'as  out  of  business.  In 
the  fall  of  1887  Mr.  Brown  org-anized  the  Ot- 
tumwa Saving-s  Bank,  and  was  its  president 
until  Aug-ust,  1895,  when  the  condition  of  his 
health  obliged  him  to  g-ive  up  all  business  for 
a  time. 

'*Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brown  have  two  children  liv- 
ing-: Benjamin  P.,  born  at  McGreg-or,  Iowa, 
December  11,  1869,  and  Louise  P.  born  at  Ot- 
tumw^a,  Iowa,  January  28,  1881,  both  of  whom 
w^ere  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  Ot- 
tumwa. Benjamin  P.  went  into  the  retail 
hardware  store  of  the  Harper  and  Mclntire 
Company;  then  Harper,  Chambers  and  Com- 
pany, in  May,  1886,  to  learn  the  business.  In 
September,   1888,   he   began  work  in   the   Ot- 


no 

tumwa  Savini^s  Bank;  was  made  assistant 
cashier  in  18*)1,  and  cashier  in  August,  1895. 
He  is  a  popular,  capable  and  successful  bank- 
er." 

JiiDics  DcGrush  Dnnvii  was  born  in  Le- 
Claire  township,  Scott  county,  Iowa,  Feb- 
ruary 9,  1846,  in  a  brick  house  on  the  prairie, 
a  few  miles  west  of  the  Mississippi  river  and 
the  village  of  LeClaire. 

The  country  was  new  and  thinly  settled, 
the  nearest  neio-hbor  being-  one-half  mile  to 
the  south.  North,  east  and  west  was  the 
boundless  prairie,  without  human  habitation 
in  sio-ht.  Wolves  howledaround  thehouseand 
came  almost  to  our  door  nearly  every  nig-ht. 
Prairie  chickens  were  plentiful;  larg-e  flocks 
used  to  g*ather,  and  the  males  strut  about  and 
sound  their  booming-  notes  in  plain  sig-ht  of, 
and  near  the  house,  and  a  fat  young-  hen  for  a 
meal  was  almost  as  handy  to  g-et  as  a  fowl 
from  a  domestic  barn  yard.  Indians  were  oc- 
casional visitors. 

James  was  a  dutiful,  obedient  boy,  of  cor- 
rect and  studious  habits,  a  ready  learner,  and 
a  great  reader  of  books,  with  a  g-ood 
memory.  Considering-  his  limited  opportu- 
nities, his  education  w^as  better  than  that  of 
any  of  his  brothers. 

He  was  a  school  teacher  in  country  districts 
in  north  Iowa  a  few  terms;  and  in  1867  beg-an 


FRANK  LOGAN  BROWN, 


Ill 

work  for  the  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  Railway 
Company  with  the  locating-  eng-ineers  on  the 
Iowa  and  Dakota  Dixision.  Later  he  was  op- 
erator at  various  stations  on  the  Iowa  and 
Minnesota  Division,  and  ag-ent  at  Lime 
Spring's  for  about  fifteen  years. 

He  came  to  the  "Burling-ton"  road  Febru- 
ary 1,  1889,  as  ag-ent  at  Fairfield,  and  to  Ot- 
tumwa  April  1,  1890. 

June  1,  1903,  he  became  traveling-  freig-ht 
ag-ent  for  the  Indiana,  Iowa  and  Illinois  Rail- 
way Company;  and  in  the  fall  of  1905,  g-eneral 
ag-ent  at  St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  for  the  New 
York  Central  lines. 

James  was  always  a  capable,  trusty  and 
faithful  worker  in  all  the  positions  he  held. 

In  1862,  he  enlisted  in  the  Sixteenth  United 
States  Reg-ular  Infantry,  when  but  sixteen 
years  of  ag-e.  An  acute  and  serious  illness, 
unfitting- him  for  service,  caused  his  discharg-e 
for  disability  a  few^  months  later;  to  his  very 
great  disappointment  and  reg-ret. 

Georg-e  Lyon  Brozv7i  was  born  in  the  Bap- 
tist parsonag-e  at  Norway,  Herkimer  county. 
New  York,  July  29,  1853.  The  family  home 
was  located  at  Vernon  Spring-s,  Howard  coun- 
ty, Iowa,  in  July  1857. 

Georg-e  was  an  active,  wide  awake,  enter- 
prising- boy,  loving-,  considerate  and  helpful  to 
his  mother;  of  a  cheerful,  kindly  and  oblig-ing- 


112 

disposition,  seldom  at  variance  with  his  play- 
mates. 

His  first  work  away  from  home  was  as  a 
trainman  on  the  Chicag^o,  Milwaukee  and  St. 
Paul,  between  McGrej^-or  and  Minneapolis,  as 
brakeman  on  a  frei<ifht,  and  later  on  a  passen- 
g-er  train,  beg-in nino-  in  1870.  He  was  in- 
dustrious and  trusty,  interested  and  ambi- 
tious, readily  g-aini no-  the  g-ood  will,  confidence 
and  respect  of  his  employers,  and  success 
and  promotion  in  his  life  w^ork  was  a  reason- 
able expectation. 

On  the  evening-  of  September  1,  1871,  while 
coupling-  the  sleeping-  car  "Minnesota"  on  the 
train  at  St.  Paul  Junction,  he  was  caught  be- 
tw^een  the  platforms  of  the  sleeper  and  the 
rear  coach,  number  seventy-seven,  receiv- 
ing- injuries  resultinor  in  his  death  within  an 
hour. 

The  railway  company's  report  of  the  acci- 
dent, says: 

"Georg-e  L.  Brown,  brakeman,  killed  on  the 
evening-  of  September  1,  1871,  at  about  7:27. 
Train  No.  4,  W.  M.  Bryant,  conductor,  Eng-ine 
No.  41,  B.  H.  Lewis,  eng-ineer,  arrived  at  St. 
Paul  Junction,  when  in  making-  the  coupling- 
between  Coach  No.  77,  and  the  sleeping-  car 
"Minnesota,"  he  was  caug-ht  between  the 
coaches.  We  helped  him  on  the  platform,  and 
put  him  on  train  No.  25  for  Minneapolis.     He 


REV.  GEO.  W.  FALL. 


MISS  ADELINE  P.  FALL,  AUG.   1866. 
MRS.  CHAS.  P.  BROWN.    1871.  CHAS.  P,   BROWN,    1863. 


LOUISE  EDITH 

FRANCES  BEN 

CHILDREN    OF   MR.  AND    MRS.   CHAS.    P.    BROWN 


JAMES  D.  BROWN. 


MRS.  JAMES  D.  BROWN. 


GEORGE  E.  BROWN  AND  WIFE. 


MISS  VINNIE  FRANCES  BROWN 


Il 

■ 

r 

^H 

■b>, 

^H 

^^^^ll« 

^4 

Ml 

VINNIE   F.  BROWN.  GEORGE  E.  BROWN. 

FRANCES    MARGARET   BROWN.  FRANK   LOGAN    BROWN. 

CHILDREN  OF  JAMES  D.  AND  ELLA  F.  BROWN, 


VINNIE  FRANK  GEORGE 

CHILDREN  OF  MR.  AND  MRS.  JAMES  D.  BROWN 


C.  C.  HEWITT 


MRS.  C.  C.   HEWITT 


WILLIAM   C.   BROWN 


MRS.   WILLIAM    C.    BROWN 


MISS  MARGARET  HEDDENS  BROWN 


MARGARET   BROWN 


MARGARET  AND   BERTHA    BROWN 


DR.    FRANK    E.    PIERCE 


MRS.    FRANK  E.    PIERCE 


V 


BERTHA  BROWN. 


DR.    KELLOGG   SPEED 


MRS.  KELLOGG  SPEED. 


MARGARET 

BERTHA  GEORGIA 

CHILDREN  OF  MR.  AND  MRS.  W.  C.  BROWN 


MISS  BERTHA  BROWN  SPEED 


JOHN  HENRY  PIERCE. 


BERTHA  BROWN  MRS.  F.  E.  PIERCE 

WILLIAM  BROWN  PIERCE 


MRS.  BERTHA  BROWN  SPEED 
AND  DAUGHTER 


113 

died  on  train  25,  in  coach  No.  24,  about  fifteen 
minutes  after  the  accident  occurred. 

The  coaches  were  backed  up  once  and  he 
didn't  make  the  couplinof,  and  sig-naled  the 
eng-ineer  to  g-o  ahead  and  back  up  ag-ain. 

When  the  coaches  came  tog-ether,  the  draft 
irons  slipped  by,  and  caug-ht  him  between  the 
platforms.  He  had  made  the  same  coupling- 
repeatedly,  and  thoug-ht  he  could  do  it  then." 

This  extract  is  from  the  report  of  Con- 
ductor Bryant  to  the  company. 

Georg-e  made  friends  of  all  with  whom  he 
was  associated,  and  his  trag-ic  and  untimely 
death  was  a  dreadful  shock,  and  was  long-  and 
deeply  mourned  by  his  family  and  friends. 

William  Carlos  Brown,  (and  his  twin  broth- 
er Georg-e  L.)  was  born  at  the  Baptist  parson- 
ag-e  in  the  little  town  of  Norway,  in  Herkimer 
county,  New  York,  on  the  2^Hh  day  of  July, 
1853,  on  the  southern  border  of  the  Great 
North  Woods,  the  Adirondack  Wilderness. 

For  the  ensuing-  four  years  the  parental 
home  was  in  central  and  western  New  York; 
in  Norw^ay,  until  September,  1854;  then  in 
Penner,  Madison  county,  until  May,  1856;  then 
in  Gaines  and  Murray,  Orleans  county,  until 
July,  1857,  when  it  was  removed  to  Iowa  and 
established  at  Vernon  Spring-s.  in  Howard 
county. 


114 

vVside  fioiii  home  instruction,  his  education 
was  acijuired  in  common   schools. 

The  l)Ovs  were  inse])arable  com])anions, 
never  havintr  any  serious  differences  or  mis- 
understandino;s.  They  were  more  active,  en- 
terprisintr  and  mischievous  than  the  averag^e 
l^ovs,  and  at  the  same  time,  dutiful,  obedient 
and  helpful  about  home,  and  affectionate  and 
considerate  to  their  mother. 

Will  was  especially  devoted  to  his  mother, 
and  had  a  way  of  demon  strati  no-  his  affection, 
always  dear  to  a  mother's  heart,  that  won  her 
warmest  love. 

She  was  very  proud  of  her  twin  boys,  and 
devotedly  attached  to  them;  and  they  were 
exceptionally  bri<^-ht  and  interesting-  little 
fellow^s. 

As  soon  as  they  were  able  to  be  useful,  they 
cheerfully  bore  their  share  of  the  burden  of  a 
home,  where  means  w^ere  limited,  and  a  mod- 
est living-  had  to  be  secured  by  industry  and 
economy;  and  were  always  ready  to  add  to  the 
family  comfort  and  income  by  earning-  some- 
thing- whenever  an  opportunity  presented. 

W.  C.  Brown's  railroad  life  and  work  beg-an 
in  the  little  town  of  Thompson,  Illinois,  where, 
in  1868  and  18()9,  he  was  employed  wooding- 
eng-ines;  and  later  on  the  section  on  the  old 
Western  Union,  now^  a  part  of  the  Chicag-o, 
Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  system. 


115 

During"  the  time  in  this  employment,  he  de- 
voted his  evenings  to  learning-  telegraphy,  and 
in  the  spring-  of  1870,  became  operator  at 
Charles  City,  on  the  Iowa  and  Dakota  Division 
of  the  Milwaukee  and  St.  Paul  road;  was  oper- 
ator at  various  stations  on  the  line  in  Iowa 
and  Minnesota,  until  the  spring-  of  1871,  when 
he  w^as  made  nig-ht  operator  in  the  Train  Dis- 
patcher's office  at  Minneapolis. 

In  June,  1872,  he  went  to  the  Iowa  Division 
of  the  Illinois  Central  road  as  train  dispatcher 
at  Waterloo;  and  in  March,  1875,  to  Wilton 
Junction  as  dispatcher  for  the  Chicag-o,  Rock 
Island  and  Pacific  Railway  until  July  1, 1876, 
when  he  accepted  a  similar  position  on  the 
Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy  Railroad  at 
Ottumwa. 

For  twenty-five   years,   from    July  1,   1876,^ 
until  June  30,  1901,  he  was  connected  with  the 
"Burlington." 

He  reported  for  duty  at  Ottumwa,  Iowa,  go- 
ingf  to  Burlington  in  a  fortnig-ht;  was  dis- 
patcher at  Burling-ton  from  July,  1876,  until 
January  1,  1880. 

Chief  Dispatcher,  St.  Louis  Division,  at 
Beardstown,  Illinois,  January  1,  1880,  to  Jan- 
uary, 1881. 

Trainmaster,  St.  Louis  Division,  at  Beards- 
town,  January,  1881  to  July,  1884. 

Assistant  Superintendent,    St.  Louis    Divi- 


IH) 

sion,    at   BL'.'irdstown,   July,    18S4,    to   January 
1,  1887. 

Superintendent,  Iowa  lines,  at  Burlin^^ton, 
January  1,  1887,  to  Auo-ust,   1890. 

General  Manag-er  of  the  Missouri  lines  of 
the  Burlington  System,  Aug-ust,  1890,  to  Jan- 
uary 1,  189G,  with  headquarters  at  St.  Joseph, 
Missouri. 

General  Manao-er,  Chica^fo,  Burlin^fton  and 
Quincy  Railroad,  at  Chica.o-o,  January  1,  1896, 
to  June  30,  1901. 

His  connection  with  the  New  York  Central 
beo-an  July  1,  1901;  when  he  went  to  Cleveland, 
as  vice  president  and  g-eneral  manag-er  of  the 
Lake  Shore  and  Michig-an  Southern,  and  Lake 
Erie  and  Western  Railways. 

In  February,  1902,  he  w^as  made  vice  presi- 
dent of  the  New  York  Central  and  Hudson 
River  Railroad.  In  February,  1905,  oper- 
ating- vice  president:  and  on  June  1,  1906,  sen- 
ior vice  president  of  the  New  York  Central 
Lines,  comprising-. 

The  New  York  Central  and  Hudson  River, 
Lake  Shore  and  Michig-an  Southern, 
Michig-an  Central, 
West  Shore, 

Lake  Erie  and   Western, 
New  York  and  Ottawa, 

Indiana,  Illinois  and  Iowa, 
Rutland, 


117 

Cleveland,  Chicag-o,  Cincinnati  and  St.  Louis, 
Lake  Erie,    Alliance  and   Wheeling-,  and 
The  Chicag-o,  Indiana  and  Southern. 
About  twelve  thousand  miles  of  the  finest 
and  most  important  railway  system  on  earth. 
The  Ottumwa  Courier,  referring-  to  his  pro- 
motion to  the  position  of  g-eneral  manag-er  of 
the  Burling-ton,  said: 

"There  are  a  few  especial  reasons  for  Gen- 
eral Manag-er  Brown's  success.  He  took  what- 
ever duties  were  assig-ned  to  him,  and  g-ave 
Ihem  his  very  best  effort.  He  never  scorned 
any  task,  however  humble,  the  drudgery  of 
which  would  have  caused  other  men  to  resig-n. 
"His  methods  have  always  been  clean  and 
honest,  and  his  treatment  of  the  public  and 
subordinates,  has  been  based  on  exactly  the 
same  candor  and  courtesy  accorded  to  his  su- 
periors in  rank.  The  story  of  his  life  reads 
like  a  romance,  and  in  it  there  is  the  g-reatest 
incentive  to  youth  for  hard  work,  intellig-ent 
effort  and  clean  methods  in  whatever  they 
undertake." 

Referring-  to  his  appointment  as  vice  presi- 
dent of  the  New  York  Central  and  Hudson 
River  road  in  February,  1902;  the  New  York 
World,  in  a  first  pag-e  article,  said: 

"Anew  railroad  wizard,  takes  place  of  g-reat 
power  and  prominence  here. 

"A  radical  chancre  in  the  manag-ement  of  the 


118 

New  York  Central  was  made  yesterday,  by 
the  election  of  William  C.  Brown,  now  vice 
president  of  the  Lake  Shore,  as  vice  presi- 
dent of  the  Central,  with  new  duties  on  a 
larg-er  scale,  than  any  New  York  Central  Rail- 
road official  has  ever  yet  assumed. 

"Mr.  Brown  becomes  the  active  directing- 
and  responsible  head  of  the  combined  trans- 
portation, eng-ineerin^,  equipment,  and  me- 
chanical departments  of  the  road. 

''His  position  will  be  of  more  individual  im- 
portance and  responsibility,  than  any  that  has 
yet  existed  on  any  g-reat  railroad  system. 

"Mr.  Brown,  who  now  becomes  one  of  the 
foremost  men  in  the  eastern  railway  field,  has 
worked  his  way  up  from  the  very  bottom. 

"He  will  retain  the  vice  presidency  of  the 
Lake  Shore,  and  Lake  Erie  and  Western." 

With  executive  and  administrative  ability 
of  the  highest  order;  he  combines  untiring-  in- 
dustry, patience  and  g-ood  nature  that  nothing- 
can  ruffle  or  disturb;  unswerving-  fidelity  to 
his  duties,  and  the  rare  and  priceless  faculty 
of  g-aining-  and  keeping-  the  g-ood  will  of  pat- 
rons; and  the  love,  respect  and  loyal  support 
of  employes  and  subordinates  of  the  roads. 

Modest,  unassuming-,  g-enial  and  approach- 
able, with  no  pride  of  position  or  power,  he  is 
a  remarkable  man  of  a  marvelous  ag-e. 

Roads  under  his    management  are   notably 


119 

free     from     accidents     and     labor     troubles. 

Mr.  Brown  is  domestic  in  his  tastes,  and 
his  home  life  is  ideal. 

He  was  married  at  Lime  Spring-s,  Howard 
county,  Iowa,  June  3,  1874;  to  Miss  Mary  Ella 
Hewitt,  daug-hter  of  C.  C.  and  Mary  Chees- 
boro  Hewitt.  Mr.  Hewitt  was  a  hardware 
merchant,  a  hig-hly  respected,  successful  bus- 
iness man.  It  is  no  flattery  to  say  that  Miss 
Hewitt  was  the  belle  and  beauty  of  the  little 
town,  and  that  she  is  a  model  wife,  mother 
and  home-maker. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brown  have  three  daug-hters, 
of  w^hom  any  parents  may  be  proud.  Two 
are  married  and  have  handsome  homes  near 
their  parents. 

Georg"ia,  the  eldest;  refined,  educated  and 
accomplished,  is  the  wife  of  Dr.  Prank  Ellis 
Pierce,  a  rising-  young*  physician,  and  a  very 
pleasant  g-entleman,  son  of  Hon.  John  H. 
Pierce,  of  Kewanee,  Illinois;  a  leading-  manu- 
facturer and  prominent  in  public  affairs  of 
the  state. 

Bertha,  a  charming-  little  woman;  fair-faced, 
brig-ht-eyed,  lovable  and  winning,  is  the  wife 
of  Dr.  Kellog-g-  Speed;  just  entering-  upon  a 
promising-  career  in  his  profession. 

Marg'aret,  the  young-est,  at  home;  trim, 
compact,  g-raceful  and  vivacious;  a  very  brig-ht 
little    miss  of    sixteen,   is   a   fine    equestrian. 


120 

and  the  comrade,  companion  and  pride  of  her 
father. 

He  has  a  ho)ish  love  for  all  ^ood  kinds  of 
fun,  appreciates  and  enjoys  a  joke,  and  knows 
how  to  make  one;  likes  a  farm,  and  fine  stock, 
horses  and  cattle,  of  which  he  is  a  judg-e  and 
always  has  a  goodly  number. 

At  home  and  off  duty  he  is  a  generous  host, 
a  welcome  t^-uest,  a  g^enial  companion,  and  the 
center  of  a  fascinating*  circle  of  friends. 

Since  his  appointment  as  senior  vice  pres- 
ident of  the  New  York  Central  lines,  his  head- 
quarters, office  and  home  are  located  in  New^ 
York  City. 


CHAPTER  XIV 


AN    ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  JULY  4,   1845,    AT   LE  CLAIR,    SCOTT 
COUNTY,  TERRITORY  OF  IOWA. 


"The  document  which  has  just  been  read  in 
our  hearing-  is  called  'The  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence.' The  committee  appointed  by 
the  Continental  Congress  assembled  in  Inde- 
pendence Hall,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  to 
draw  up  that  declaration,  consisted  of  Thomas 
Jefferson,  of  Virginia;  John  Adams,  of  Massa- 
chusetts; Benjamin  Franklin,  of  Pennsylva- 
nia; Roger  Sherman,  of  Connecticut;  and  Rob- 
ert R.  Livingston,  of  New  York.  Jefferson 
was  the  author.  The  vote  was  taken  on  its 
adoption  July  4,  1776,  at  about  mid-day;  a  time 
of  intense  solemnity  and  interest.  The  decla- 
ration was  read  at  the  head  of  each  brigade  of 
the  army;  it  was  read  from  the  pulpit;  it  was 
read  in  leg-islative  halls,  and  at  the  corners  of 

[121] 


122 

the  streets,  and  ev^erywhere  met  with  a  warm 
response  from  the  American  people. 

In  that  noblest  of  all  state  papers  ever 
issued  from  a  le^^islative  body,  is  this  memor- 
able lang^uagfe,  developing*  principles  most  no- 
ble and  o-lorious,  cherished  with  the  warm- 
est and  most  ardent  affection  by  every 
true  American  heart.  Principles  upon  which 
the  superstructure  of  our  g'overnment  was 
reared  and  upon  which  it  still  rests,  viz:  "We 
hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all 
men  are  created  equal;  that  they  are  endowed 
by  their  Creator  with  certain  unalienable 
rig"hts;  that  among"  these  are  life,  liberty  and 
the  pursuit  of  happiness;  that  to  secure  these 
rig"hts  g-overnments  are  instituted  among-  men, 
deriving  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of 
the  governed."  A  similar  sentiment  was  ex- 
pressed many  centuries  before  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  came  into  being-,  and 
comes  to  us  under  the  sanction  of  Divine  reve- 
lation in  these  words,  "He  hath  made  of  one 
blood  all  nations  of  men  to  dwell  on  all  the 
face  of  the  earth." 

The  Bible  and  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, know  no  royal  blood,  no  ordinate  and 
subordinate  conditions  of  men  as  they  come 
from  the  hand^of  their  Creator.  One  declares 
that  "of  one  blood  all  men  were  made,"  the 
other  that  "all  men  are  created  equal  and  en- 


123 

dowed    by    the  Creator    with   certain  inalien- 
able rig-hts,  among-  which  is  that  of  liberty." 

In  the  first  place  let  us  g-lance  briefly  at  the 
nature  of  personal  liberty. 

Very  incorrect  and  absurd  notions  are  en- 
tertained in  reference  to  personal  liberty, 
some  supposing-  it  to  consist  in  every  person 
doing-  what  he  pleases  without  reg-ard  for 
the  rig-hts,  interests  and  happiness  of  others; 
without  reg-ard  for  society.  While  others 
think  that  personal  liberty  is  sufficiently  ample 
if  their  fellow  men  have  the  liberty  to  think 
only  as  they  think,  and  to  do  what  they  choose 
to  have  them  do.  Both  of  these  views  are  rad- 
ically wrong-  and  equally  destructive  of  every 
principal  of  true  personal  liberty. 

"Every  human  being-,"  says  a  philosopher 
of  our  own  country,  **is  by  his  constitution  a 
separate  distinct  and  complete  system, 
adapted  to  all  the  purposes  of  self  government 
and  responsible  to  God  for  the  manner  in 
which  his  powers  are  employed." 

Every  person  has  a  perfect  rig-ht,  so  far  as 
his  fellow  men  are  concerned,  to  use  his  lib- 
erty as  he  pleases;  provided,  always,  he  does 
not  use  it  to  the  injury  of  his  neig-hbors;  he 
may  g-o  where  he  pleases  and  when  he  pleases 
and  come  when  he  will;  he  may  work,  play  or 
be  idle,   just  as   suits  him  best.       If  he  sur- 


124 

renders  anv  of  his  personal  ri<»"hts  it  must  he 
with  his  uncoerced  consent. 

As,  for  instance,  in  the  formation  and  whole- 
some provisions  of  society,  the  members 
mutually  and  on  the'  principles  of  reciprocity 
surrender  some  of  their  personal  rig-hts  to 
society  which  is  essential  to  its  very  exist- 
ence. 1.  The  person  transfers  to  society 
the  ri^^ht  of  self-protection.  2.  He  trans- 
fers the  riu'ht  to  redress  his  wrono-s  or  in- 
juries. 

On  the  other  hand,  society  eng-ag-es  to  pro- 
tect him  in  the  innocent  enjoyment  of  his 
rig-hts  and  redress  his  wrong's.  Hence  rt 
is  wrong-  for  a  person  or  persons  to  take  re- 
dress into  their  own  hands.  Should  such  a 
course  be  g'enerally  adopted  society  would 
soon  come  to  an  end.  If,  for  any  cause,  so- 
ciety fails  to  perform  its  part  of  the  contract, 
it  is  the  duty  and  privileg^e  of  the  person  to 
fall  back  on  his  origfinal  rig-hts  and  protect 
himself  and  redress  his  own  wrong-s.  Such 
cases  have  occurred  in  this  w^estern  country, 
where  horse  thieves,  counterfeiters  and  rob- 
bers have  leag'ued  tog-ether  for  protection  in 
their  intolerable  depredations,  so  that  the 
ends  of  law  and  justice  were  constantly  and 
effectually  defied.  Under  such  circumstan- 
ces it  is  rig-ht  for  the  outrag-ed  neig-hbors 
to  do  as  they  sometimes  have  done — take  re- 


125 

dress  into  their  own  hands;  not,  however,  un- 
til they  have  found  by  actual  trial,  that  the 
laws  cannot,  or  will  not,  protect  them. 

Personal  liberty  may  be  violated:  1.  In 
cases  where  one  person  assumes  control  of 
the  actions,  physical  and  intellectual,  of  an- 
other. This  point  is  so  clear  as  to  need  no 
illustration.  2.  Society  may  violate  personal 
liberty  by  imprisonment,  or  by  reducing-  to 
vassalage,  where  no  crime  has  been  commit- 
ted; or  where  crime  has  been  committed, 
by  inflicting-  punishment  without  giving  the 
accused  a  fair  trial;  or  by  passing  laws  dis- 
franchising a  person  or  persons;  or  placing 
them  under  civil  or  political  disabilities;  or 
by  restricting  or  coercing  their  religious  faith 
and  forms  of  worship. 

Each  and  every  person,  so  far  as  his  fellow 
men  are  concerned,  has  a  perfect  right  to  be- 
lieve what  he  has  a  mind  to;  to  w^orship  what, 
and  in  w^hat  form  he  is  disposed  to;  provided, 
he  leaves  the  same  right  to  others  unimpaired, 
and  none  must  molest  or  make  him  afraid. 
To  connect  church  with  state,  or  establish  a 
specified  form  of  religion  by  law  is  a  gross 
and  palpable  violation  of  the  most  sacred 
rights  of  men  and  should  be  sternly  and  per- 
sistently resisted. 

To  secure  these  rights  the  Declaration  tells 
us  governments    are   instituted   among   men, 


12(. 

dcriviiij^-  tlu'ir  just  ])()\VL'rs  from  the  consent 
of  the  <roverned;  whenever  a  form  of  jrovern- 
ment  becomes  destructive  of  these  ends,  it  is 
the  rio-ht  of  the  people  to  alter  or  abolish  it 
and  to  institute  a  new  g-overnment,  laying  its 
foundation  on  such  principles  and  or^anizin^ 
its  ]iower  in  such  forms  as  to  them  shall  seem 
most  likely  to  effect  their  safety  and  happiness. 

These,  we  repeat,  are  the  g-lorious  prin- 
ciples upon  which  the  constitution  of  our  g-ov- 
ernment was  formed.  Our  law^  makers  are 
the  servants  of  the  people;  agents  appointed 
by  the  people.  The  executive  is  the  servant 
of  the  people.  He  occupies  the  executive 
chair  because  the  people  put  him  there.  If 
they  think  best,  he  is  left  out  and  another  is 
elected  to  fill  his  place.  The  people  are  the 
sovereigns  of  the  land. 

In  no  country  are  the  principles  of  liberty 
so  well  understood,  so  well  defined,  so  amply 
enjoyed  as  in  our  own  highly  favored  republic. 
And  it  devolves  upon  us,  fellow  citizens,  to 
maintain  and  guard  most  scrupulously  these 
principles  and  transmit  them,  to  cheer  and 
bless  those  who  shall  occupy  our  places  in 
generations  yet  to  come. 

Let  us  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  begin- 
ning, the  gradual  development  and  consum- 
mation of  those  principles  of  liberty  we  now 
enjoy.     There  was  first  the  dawning,  then  the 


127 

twilig-ht  then  the  meridian  blaze  of  a  g^lorious 
day.  Great  principles,  either  of  physics  or 
morals,  political  economy  or  human  rig-hts 
and  human  liberty  are  not  developed  and 
broug-ht  to  perfection  at  once,  but  are  the 
work  of  time.  Old  and  venerated  forms,  cus- 
toms and  institutions  must  be  removed;  long* 
standing-  and  deep  rooted  prejudices  must  be 
overcome;  new  and  startling-  ideas  and  princi- 
ples introduced. 

When  Patrick  Henry  made  his  impassioned 
appeal  in  behalf  of  American  freedom  before 
the  House  of  Burg-esses  of  Virg-inia,  in  which 
occurs  that  immortal  exclamation,  '*Give  me 
liberty  or  give  me  death,"  the  eloquent  speech 
was  g-reeted  with  cries  of  "Treason"  from 
different  parts  of  the  hall. 

The  resolution  offered  in  the  Continental 
Cong-ress,  "That  these  united  colonies  are, 
and  of  rig-ht  oug-ht  to  be  free  and  independent 
states;  that  they  are  absolved  from  all  alleg-- 
iance  to  the  British  crown,"  etc.,  was  treason. 

Before  America  w-as  discovered,  the  idea 
that  the  people  had  some  rig-hts  beg-an  to  be 
entertained.  It  was  the  violation  of  these  im- 
perfectly conceived  rig-hts,  the  intolerable  op- 
pression, political  and  relig-ious,  that  drove 
the  first  settlers  of  America  from  their  homes 
in  the  Old  World,  from  friends  and  every  en- 
deared association,  to  find  a  resting-  place,  an 


128 

asvliini  of  the  perseciiti'd  and  oppressed  in  a 
far  off  wilderness  country,  inhabitated  by 
beasts  of  prey  and  sava<re  tribes;  where  they 
were  exposed  to  hardships  and  sufferings  of 
the  most  appallinj^*-  character,  for  which,  how- 
ever, they  felt  themselves  amply  compensated 
by  the  sweets  of  liberty  enjoyed  in  their  new 
homes. 

The  following-  indig-nant  reply  of  Colonel 
Barre  to  Charles  Townsend  in  the  British 
Parliament  in  the  days  of  the  American  Rev- 
olution, contains  the  truth.  Referring-  to  the 
American  colonies,  he  says,  "Children  planted 
by  your  care!"  "No,  your  oppression  planted 
them  in  America;  they  fled  from  your  tyranny 
into  a  then  uncultivated  land,  where  they  were 
exposed  to  all  the  hardships  to  which  human 
nature  is  liable,  and  among-  others,  to  the  cru- 
elties of  a  savag-e  foe.  And  yet,  actuated  by 
principles  of  true  Eng-lish  liberty,  they  met 
all  these  hardships  with  pleasure."  The 
principles  of  liberty  were  broug-ht  by  the 
Pilg-rims  to  the  New  World,  in  an  imper- 
fectly conceived,  crude  and  unformed  state. 

Monarchy  had  no  motive  to  emig-rate  to  the 
wilds  of  America;  priestcraft  did  not  come; 
they  were  present  only  in  shadow.  By  the 
steadfast  attractions  of  interest,  monarchy 
and  priestcraft  were  retained  in  the  Old 
World.     To  the  forests   of  America   came  a 


129 

free  people;  to  the  forests  of  America  relig-ion 
came  as  a  companion  to  cheer  and  comfort  in 
the  midst  of  trials  and  snfFerino-s.  It  is  true 
the  principles  of  liberty  were  but  imperfectly 
developed  and  understood  by  the  Pilgrim 
fathers.  Their  views  of  religious  liberty 
were  less  correct  than  those  of  civil  liberty. 
They  supposed  the  people  ought  to  be  com- 
pelled to  go  to  meeting  by  civil  law;  that  the 
institutions  of  the  Gospel  should  be  supported 
by  a  legalized  tax  upon  the  people,  and  that 
this  tax  should  go  to  support  a  particular 
church  and  denomination,  and  that  orthodoxy 
should  be  looked  after  and  protected  by  the 
civil  magistrates  and  heresy  severly  punished 
by  the  officers  of  justice. 

It  was  for  opposing  these  relics  of  tyranny 
and  oppression  that  Roger  Williams  was  ban- 
ished from  the  colony  of  Massachusetts  in  the 
dead  of  a  New  England  winter.  For  fourteen 
weeks  he  was  sorely  tossed  in  a  bitter  season, 
not  knowing  what  bed  or  bread  did  mean. 
Often  in  a  stormy  night  he  had  neither  fire, 
food  or  company;  often  he  wandered  without  a 
guide  and  had  no  shelter  but  a  hollow  tree. 
But  he  was  not  without  friends  The  same 
scrupulous  respect  for  the  rights  of  others, 
which  led  him  to  defend  the  freedom  of  con- 
science, made  him  the  friend  and  champion 
of  the  Indians,  and  thus  secured  their   most 


130 

cordial  attachment.  Williams  had  often  been 
the  welcome  ^uest  of  the  neitj;-hborincr  chiefs 
before  his  exile;  and  now  when  he  came,  in 
winter,  a  lone  wanderer  from  oppression,  to 
the  cabin  of  the  chief  of  Pokanoket  he  was 
welcomed  by  Massasoit,  and  the  barbarous 
heart  of  Canonicus,  the  chief  of  the  Narra- 
g-ansetts,  loved  him,  as  expressed  in  the  lan- 
g-uaofe  of  the  times,  "as  his  son  to  the  last 
g-asp." 

The  place  where  he  finally  fixed  his  habita- 
tion to  express  his  o-ratitude  for,  and  his  con- 
fidence in  the  protection  and  mercies  of  God, 
he  called  Providence.  "I  desire,"  said  he, 
"it  mig-ht  be  for  a  shelter  for  persons  dis- 
tressed for  conscience." 

No  one,  said  Williams,  should  be  compelled 
to  w^orship,  or  maintain  a  worship  a,«-ainst  his 
own  consent. 

"What!"  exclaimed  his  antag-onist,  amazed 
at  his  strang-e  tenents,  "Is  not  the  laborer 
worthy  of  his  hire?"  "Yes,  from  them  that 
hire  him. " 

Williams  asserted  that  the  magistrates  are 
but  the  agents  of  the  people,  or  their  trustees 
on  whom  no  spiritual  power  could  be  con- 
ferred, since  conscience  belong-s  to  the  indi- 
vidual and  is  not  the  property  of  the  body 
politic.  The  magistrates  were  selected  ex- 
clusively from  the  members  of  the  church  ac- 


131 

cording-  to  law.  Williams  contended  that  with 
equal  propriety  a  doctor  of  physics  or  a  pilot 
should  be  selected  for  his  skill  in  theolog-y  or 
standing-  in  the  church. 

Another  champion  for  liberty  in  those  early 
times  was  William  Penn,  the  pioneer  of  the 
State  that  bears  his  name.  As  an  expression 
and  memorial  of  the  principles  and  feeling's 
he  cherished,  and,  so  far  as  he  could,  infused 
into  those  around  him,  he  named  the  city 
which  he  founded,  Philadelphia,  or  the  City 
of  Brotherly  Love. 

In  an  address  to  the  people  of  the  colony, 
he  expressed  his  opinion  of  liberty  and  what 
the  people  mig-ht  expect.  "I  hope,"  says 
Penn,  "you  will  not  be  troubled  at  your 
chang-e  and  the  king-'s  choice,  for  you  are  now 
fixed  at  the  mercy  of  no  g-overnor  who  comes 
to  make  his  fortune  g-reat.  You  shall  be  g-ov- 
erned  by  laws  of  your  own  making-  and  live  a 
free,  and  if  you  will,  a  sober  and  industrious 
people.  I  shall  not  usurp  the  rig-ht  of  any  or 
oppress  his  person." 

Speaking-  of  his  colony,  he  says,  "A  free 
colony  for  all  mankind." 

This  spirit  of  liberty  broug-ht  by  the  early 
settlers  to  the  New  World  was  cherished  and 
increased  until  it  lig-hted  up  a  torch  that  made 
tyranny,  despotism  and  oppression  quail  and 
hasten  from  the  land  of  freedom. 


132 

But  wc  ]):iss  to  those  scciu's  more  closely 
connected  with  the  Revolution.  For  more 
than  one  hundred  yeiirs  after  the  first  settle- 
ment of  the  ^American  colonies,  the  British 
ofovernment  manifested  but  little  interest  in 
their  prosperity  or  welfare,  althoui;-h  the  col- 
onies were  continually  harassed  by  hostile 
Indian  tribes,  their  houses  burned,  their 
farms  pillao-ed  and  laid  w^aste,  their  families 
butchered  or  carried  into  barbarous  and  hope- 
less captivity.  When  the  colonies,  by  perse- 
vering industry,  laboring-  under  every  disad- 
vantage, arrived  at  a  state  of  prosperity  and 
importance  that  attracted  the  attention  of 
European  governments,  then  the  insatiable 
avarice  of  the  British  Parliament  caused  it  to 
manifest  much  professed  interest  in  the  pros- 
perity of  the  American  colonies,  but  this  con- 
cern was  purely  selfish  as  the  sequel  clearly 
proved. 

The  language  of  Colonel  Barre  in  reply  to 
Townsend  on  this  point  is  most  eloquent  and 
just.  "They  nourished  by  your  indulgence! 
No.  Thev  grew  by  your  neglect.  When  you 
began  to  care  for  them,  that  care  was  exer- 
cised in  sending  persons  to  rule  over  them,  to 
spy  out  their  liberty,  to  misrepresent  their 
actions  and  to  prey  upon  their  substance." 

The  oppressive  measures  of  the  British 
Parliament     which     excited     resistance    and 


133 

formed  the  spirit  of  liberty  in  the  American 
people  commenced  as  far  back  as  1664.  Par- 
liament reg-arded  the  people  of  the  colonies  as 
an  inferior  g-rade  of  his  Majesty's  subjects, 
dependent  upon  his  will,  and  to  be  made  at  all 
hazard  subservient  to  the  ag-g-randizement  of 
the  British  crown.  Parliament,  by  certain 
leo-islative  acts,  confined  the  American  trade 
almost  exclusively  to  the  mother  country.  To 
benefit  her  own  citizens  the  government  pro- 
hibited in  many  instances  the  establishment 
of  manufactories  in  the  colonies.  These  op- 
pressive and  unjust  restrictions  and  prohi- 
bitions were  in  their  effect  most  prejudicial 
to  the  interest  and  welfare  of  New  Eng-land, 
as  the  natural  sterility  of  the  soil  offered  but 
poor  inducements  to  ag-ricultural  pursuits. 

Next  a  law  was  passed  imposing-  duties  on 
certain  articles  of  merchandise  to  be  paid  in 
the  colonial  ports.  This  was  done  to  extort 
revenue  from  the  people  of  the  colonies  for 
support  of  the  home  government. 

Soon  followed  the  infamous  Stamp  Act,  by 
which  the  people  were  compelled  to  use 
stamped  papers  furnished  by  the  government, 
for  which  they  were  oblig-ed  to  pay  an  ex- 
horbitant  price.  All  deeds,  contracts  and  the 
like  not  written  on  this  stamped  paper,  were 
null  and  void.  Further,  a  law  was  passed 
providing  for  the  trial  and  punishment  of  any 


134 

violation  ol  tln'su  unjust  and  oppressive  en- 
actments, without  juries — l)y  jud<jfes  entirely 
dependent  on  the  crown. 

It  was  on  the  passa<^e  of  the  Stamp  Act  that 
Franklin,  who  was  at  the  time  in  London, 
wrote  home  to  Mr.  Thompson,  an  ardent 
friend  of  liberty  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia — 
"The  sun  of  liberty  is  set.  You  must  lig-ht 
the  candles  of  industry  and  economy."  "Be 
assured,"  was  the  reply,  "we  shall  lig'ht  up 
torches  of  quite  another  sort." 

The  colonies  remonstrated  and  petitioned 
against  these  acts  of  injustice  in  respectful 
yet  most  decided  lang-uag-e,  but  to  very  little 
effect.  However,  at  the  instance  of  the  cele-. 
brated  Pitt,  the  Stamp  Act  was  repealed. 
Other  odious  laws  were  left  in  full  force. 

Then  a  law  was  passed  imposing-  a  tax  on 
glass  and  teas  taken  to  America.  The  people 
became  convinced  that  it  was  the  settled  pur- 
pose of  the  British  government  to  tax  them, 
and  to  which  they  must  submit  and  become 
the  vassals  of  England,  or  resist  unto  blood 
these  aggressions  upon  their  rights.  Little 
time  was  required  to  decide  the  momentous 
question.  "Liberty  or  death,"  was  the  re- 
sponse. So  ardently  were  the  people  attached 
to  liberty  and  so  resolute  in  resisting  the 
steady  encroachments  of  injustice  and  tyran- 
ny, all,  rich  and  poor,  young  and  old,  men  and 


135 

women,  abandoned  the  use  of  tea  entirely,  and 
swept  the  beverage  from  their  tables.  About 
this  time  a  ship  arrived  in  Boston  harbor, 
f reig-hted  with  tea.  The  citizens  at  once  g-ave 
the  captain  to  understand  that  he  conld  quiet- 
ly leave  the  harbor  with  his  vessel  and  its  con- 
tents, provided  he  set  sail  within  a  specified 
time.  Not  heeding-  this  admonition,  about 
twenty  persons,  disg-uised  as  Mohawk  In- 
dians, boarded  the  ship  and,  protected  by  the 
citizens,  broke  open  three  hundred  and  forty- 
two  boxes  of  tea  and  poured  the  contents  into 

the  sea. 

This  act  highly  exasperated  the  British 
Parliament  and  their  object  now  w^as  to  in- 
flict punishment  upon  their  refractory  sub- 
jects. Various  and  oppressive  measures  were 
resorted  to,  to  subdue  the  rebellious,  but  the 
only  effect,  so  far  as  the  people  of  the  colonies 
were  concerned,  was  to  extend  and  fan  the 
flame  of  liberty  and  consolidate  the  spirit  of 
resistance,  and  streng-then  the  determination 
to  resist  unto  blood  and  death  these  ag-g-res- 
sions  of  the  home  g-overnment. 

The  19th  of  April,  1775,  is  memorable  in 
the  annals  of  the  long-  strug-g-le  for  independ- 
ence as  being-  the  day  upon  which  the  first 
battle  was  foug-ht  at  Lexing-ton,  between  the 
British  and  Americans.  On  the  w^hole  the  re- 
sult   was    in    favor    of    freedom.     The    news 


13() 

s])re.'ul  rapidh  throiij^h  the  countrx';  peo- 
])le  were  e\  erxwhere  intensely  excited;  the 
fiirnier  left  his  ])1()\\,  the  mechanic  his 
tools,  tiie  la\v\er  his  hooks,  the  merchant 
his  j^-oods,  and  hastened  to  the  scene  of  action. 
Thus  commenced  the  stru<^ofle  which  lasted 
for  seven  lonof  years,  attended  by  hardships, 
privations,  snfferino-  and  bloodshed,  of  which 
we  can  have  but  faint  conception,  and  which 
ended  only  when  Great  Britain  declared  to 
the  world,  America  is  free. 

Soon  followed  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  in 
which  the  enemy,  thou^'h  with  double  the 
numbers  of  men,  were  twice  repulsed  with 
dreadful  lo-ss  and  only  succeeded  in  drivino- 
the  Americans  from  their  post  when  ammuni- 
tion was  exhausted  and  nothing-  left  by  which 
to  defend  themselves  but  empty  muskets. 
Over  one  thousand  of  His  Majesty's  troops 
were  dead  and  wounded  on  the  field.  The 
American  loss  was  not  half  that  number. 

The  l)attles  of  Saratog-a  and  Yorktown  were 
the  most  decisive  during-  the  war  in  bring-ing- 
about  the  g-rand  result — the  independence  of 
America  and  the  g-lorious  liberty  we  now  en- 
joy. 'At  Saratog-a,  Burgoyne,  the  British  g-en- 
eral,  surrendered  with  his  entire  army  to 
General  Gates  and  his  noble  band  of  patriots. 
This  occurred  in  October,  1777. 

In    October,    1781,    the   battle  of   Yorktown 


137 

was  foug-ht  which  resulted  in  the  surrender  of 
the  British  fleet  and  the  array  of  Lord  Corn- 
wallis,  and  terminated  the  war. 

The  g-lorious  intelligence  flew  on  the  wing's 
of  the  wind.  So  great  was  the  joy  that  some 
lost  their  reason,  and  one,  a  good  patriot  in 
the  city  of  Philadelphia,  expired. 

You  will  now  briefly  notice  the  character, 
the  kind  of  people  the  men  and  women  en- 
gaged in  the  Revolutionary  struggle.  It 
would  be  superfluous  to  say  they  were  the 
friends  of  Freedom.  The  struggle  was  not 
despotism  against  despotism;  not  to  cast  off 
one  form  of  tyranny  for  the  sake  of  another, 
but  the  struggle  was  between  despotism  and 
liberty.  No  sacrifice  was  too  great,  no  suffer- 
ing too  appalling  to  be  endured  for  Freedom. 
Wives  said  to  husbands,  go;  mothers  said  to 
their  sons,  go  and  fight  the  battles  of  God  and 
your  countr^^  Sisters  encouraged  brothers 
as  they  were  leaving  home  for  the  army  in  the 
most  heroic  exhortations.  Ladies  of  rank 
and  fortune  made  cartridges  for  the  soldiers. 

You  have  read  of  the  heroic  conduct  of  Mol- 
Iv  Stark,  the  soldier's  wife,  during  the  battle 
of  Trenton.  During  the  hottest  of  the  action 
she  carried  water  from  a  neighboring  spring 
to  her  husband  and  fellow  soldiers.  Her  hus- 
band was  a  gunner;  a  ball  struck  him,  and  he 
fell  at  his  post.     No  one  could  be  spared  to 


138 

take  his  place.  The  noble  and  ])atri()tic  wom- 
an performed  the  duties  of  a  t^^unner  with  so 
much  ability  and  bravery  that  she  received 
the  title  of  Captain  Molly. 

The  sufferino^s  of  the  soldiers  were  often 
most  intense  from  want  of  clothino-  and  food, 
and  none  but  men  fio-htino-  for  freedom  would 
have  endured  them  with  such  cheerfulness 
and  heroic  fortitude. 

The  army  that  went  to  Canada  by  way  of 
the  Kenebec  w'ere  driven  to  such  extremities 
in  the  uninhabited  wilderness  throug-h  w^hich 
they  passed  late  in  the  fall  that  dog-s,  car- 
tridge boxes  and  old  shoes  were  eaten  with 
avidity. 

In  midwinter  the  soldiers  w^ere  sometimes 
without  shoes,  and  they  could  be  tracked  by 
the  blood  from  their  lacerated  feet. 

When  disheartening-  defeat  and  disaster  at- 
tended the  American  arms,  as  was  sometimes 
the  case,  the  enemy  w^ould  embrace  such  times 
of  gloominess  to  offer  pardon  and  bribes  to 
the  officers  and  men  to  induce  them  to  aban- 
don the  cause  of  liberty  and  return  to  their 
allegiance  to  the  crown  of  Great  Britain. 

But  the  lang-uage  of  Gen.  Reed  on  one  of 
these  occasions  expressed  the  feelings  of  all. 
He  was  offered  ten  thousand  pounds  ster- 
ling- and  a  high  office  in  the  British  service  if 
he   would    desert    the    American    cause.      His 


139 

noble  reply  was:  "I  am  not  worth  purchas- 
ing-, but  such  as  I  am  the  King-  of  Great 
Britain  is  not  rich  enoug^h  to  buy  me." 

Lastly:  There  were  a  God  acknowledging- 
and  a  God-fearing-  people.  They  not  only 
believed  the  abstract  truth  or  doctrine  of  the 
existence  of  a  Supreme  Being-,  but  with  a 
firm  reliance  on  the  protection  of  Divine  Prov- 
idence, they  mutually  pledg-ed  each  other 
*'their  lives,  their  fortunes  and  their  sacred 
honor,"  for  the  support  of  the  principles  set 
forth  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

The  records  of  Cong-ress  at  that  time  abund- 
antly prove  this  by  the  frequent  national  days 
of  fasting-  and  prayer  and  seasons  of  thanks- 
g-iving-.  When  disaster  attended  the  Ameri- 
can army  a  day  of  fasting-  and  prayer  was  ob- 
served, and  when  success  and  victory  brig-ht- 
ened  the  prospects  of  freedom  a  day  of  public 
thanksg-iving-. 

The  special  providence  of  God  was  clearly 
manifested  in  g-uiding-  and  controling-  the 
events  of  that  long-  strug-g-le,  which  eventuated 
so  gloriously  to  the  cause  of  liberty  and  the 
people  of  the  colonies.  In  raising-  up  such  a 
man  as  Washing-tion  at  such  a  time,  in  pre- 
serving- his  life,  thoug-h  frequently  in  the 
hottest  of  the  fig-ht,  in  blood  and  carnag-e. 

In  distinctly  marked  providence  in  favor  of 
the  Americans  and  ag-ainst  the  enemy.    There 


140 

is  the  memorable  niilit.irx-  lace  that  t()f)k  ])lace 
l)et\veen  (Tencral  Mori^-an  and  Lord  Cornwal- 
lis  at  the  south — hrst  to  the  lords  of  the  Ca- 
tawba, and  then  to  those  of  the  Yadkin. 

Moro-an,  with  a  force  of  Americans  j^reatly 
inferior  in  number,  was  retreatinor  from  and 
in  imminent  dang-er  of  capture  or  destruction 
by  the  British  army  under  Cornwallis.  Mor- 
g-an  reached  the  Catawba  river  just  in  time  to 
cross  before  nig^htfall.  Cornwallis,  with  his 
command,  did  not  dare  to  attempt  the  cross- 
ing- in  the  darkness.  During-  the  nig-ht  a  tre- 
mendous rain  swelled  the  river  out  of  banks, 
making-  it  impossible  for  the  British  to  cross 
save  by  a  long-  detour,  which  was  made. 

A  little  later,  and  during-  the  same  retreat, 
Cornwallis'  army  stopped  by  darkness  camped 
on  the  banks  of  the  Yadkin  river.  The  camp- 
fires  of  Morgan's  band  of  patriots  could  be 
seen  on  the  other  side,  and  it  seemed  as 
though  the  lig-ht  of  the  following-  day  must 
witness  their  destruction,  butag-ain  the  "win- 
dows of  heaven  were  opened"  and  the  Yadkin 
was  transformed  into  a  rag-ing-,  impassable 
torrent. 

Disheartened  at  what  was  regarded  by  the 
British  commander  as  a  second  interposition 
of  Divine  Providence,  Cornwallis  turned  back 
from  the  pursuit,  and  Morgan's  army  was 
saved  to  the  cause  of  freedom. 


141 

Lastly,  let  us  briefly  g-lance  at  the  dang-ers 
that  threaten  our  liberties.  There  are  foreign 
and  domestic  foes  to  our  free  institutions. 
The  crowned  heads  of  Europe  have  always 
looked  upon  the  United  States  with  a  jealous 
eye,  and  with  feelinofs  of  positive  dislike,  on 
account  of  the  discontent  our  institutions  g'en- 
erate  in  the  minds  of  their  oppressed  subjects. 
But  dang-ers  of  this  character  need  g-ive  us 
little  alarm,  as  the  United  States  in  a  just 
cause  is  a  match  for  any  European  power. 

Our  domestic  enemies  are  of  another  and 
more  dang-erous  character. 

1.  Intemperance  is  a  dang-erous  enemy  to 
freedom.  That  which  puts  shackles  on  a  man 
so  effectually  he  cannot  stir  and  unfits  him  for 
all  business.  Our  rulers  have  been  captured 
by  this  enemy. 

2.  Avarice,  insatiable  avarice,  which  leads 
to  bribery  and  corruption. 

3.  That  mob  spirit  which  has  already  be- 
come formidable  and  increasing-  in  the  coun- 
try. The  reig-n  of  the  mob  is  the  reig-n  of 
anarchy  and  terror.  Liberties  and  rig-hts  are 
trampled  on  in  the  most  wanton  manner. 

4.  Another  formidable  enemy  is  the  sys- 
tem of  slavery.  On  this  point  I  speak  as  an 
American  citizen  and  friend  of  my  country. 
If  there  Avere  at  the  present  time  no  dang-er- 
our  indications  seen   from  this    quarter,    the 


142 

nature  of  thf  case  renders  it  an  eneniv  ol  the 
most  formidable  character.  Because  slavery 
and  liberty  are  opposites — they  are  antaj^-o- 
nistic  and  cannot  live  in  harmony — the  one 
must  be  subverted  bv  the  other  sooner  or 
later.  One  is  based  upon  principles  contained 
in  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the  other 
a  palpable  denial  of  those  principles,  and 
denominates  that  o-lorious  and  incomparable 
instrument  a  fig-ure  of  speech — a  rhetorical 
flourish,  a  beautiful  abstraction.  The  en- 
croachment of  slavery  upon  freedom  since  the 
g^reat  actors  in  the  scenes  of  the  Revolution 
have  passed  away,  has  been  steady,  effectual 
and  certain.  It  has  demanded  an  abridg-e- 
ment  of  the  liberty  of  the  press,  strangled 
free  speech,  and  forced  the  surrender  of  ter- 
ritory consecrated  to  freedom,  to  its  desolat- 
ing power.  It  has  demanded  and  obtained  a 
judicial  decision  from  the  supreme  tribunal  of 
the  land,  that  its  dominion  is  co-extensive 
with  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 

God  speed  the  day  when  another  declaration 
shall  be  made  in  this  land,  no  less  important, 
no  less  g-rand  and  sublime  than  the  one  we 
have  heard  read  to-day,  which  will  proclaim 
the  emancipation  of  a  race  now  held  in  bond- 
age, triumphantly  vindicating  the  declaration, 
that  "all  men  are  created  equal." 


143 

NOTE 

That  part  of  this  address,  referring-  to  slav- 
ery as  one  of  the  dangers  threatening-  the 
country,  and  the  existence  of  the  government, 
and  stating  that  freedom  and  slavery  could 
not  long-  exist  side  by  side,  that  sooner  or 
later  one  must  g^o,  was  prophetic. 

On  June  16,  1858,  thirteen  years  later,  Mr. 
Lincoln  in  accepting-  the  nomination  for 
United  States  Senator  from  Illinois  said: 

"A  house  divided  against  itself  cannot 
stand.  I  believe  this  government  cannot  en- 
dure permanently,  half  slave  and  half  free.  I 
do  not  expect  the  Union  to  be  dissolved.  I  do 
not  expect  the  house  to  fall,  but  I  do  expect  it 
will  cease  to  be  divided.  It  will  become  all 
one  thing-  or  the  other." 

William  H.  Seward  at  Rochester,  New 
York,  October  25,  1858,  said: 

"It  is  an  irrepressible  conflict  between  op- 
posing* forces,  and  it  means  that  the  United 
States  must  and  will,  sooner  or  later  become, 
either  entirely  a  slave  holding  nation  or  en- 
tirelv  a  free  labor  nation." 


Chapter  XV 


AN    ADDRESS 


BY    REV.   C.   E.    BROWN,    DELIVERED  IN  CRESCO, 
IOWA,  SUNDAY  EVENING,  JANUARY  3,   1875. 


"Our  address  this  evening-  upon  the  subject 
of  Temperance  will  be  based  upon  the  follow- 
ing- passag-e  of  scripture:  'And  I  looked  and 
beheld  a  pale  horse;  and  his  name  that  sat  on 
him  was  Death,  and  Hell  followed  with  him. 
And  power  was  g-iven  unto  them  over  the 
fourth  part  of  the  earth  to  kill  with  the  sword 
and  with  hung-er,  and  with  death,  and  by  the 
beasts  of  the  earth.'     Rev.  6:  8. 

In  the  early  history  of  mankind,  when  the 
words  of  the  lang-uag-e  of  the  people  were  few 
and  inadequate  to  express  abstract  and  pro- 
found truths,  emblems,  symbols,  hierog-lyph- 
ics,  and  other  representations  w^ere  resorted 
to  as  means  by  which  ideas  were  conveved 
from    one    person    to    another;    and    although 

[144] 


145 

sometimes  unavoidably  involving-  the  subject 
in  doubt  and  obscurity,  yet  particularly  im- 
pressive. Althoug-h  the  book  of  Revelation 
contains  much  g-iven  in  symbols  which  the 
lapse  of  time  alone  can  unfold,  yet  we  read 
those  descriptions,  unsurpassed  as  they  are 
in  majesty  and  sublimity,  with  the  deepest  in- 
terest and  most  profound  awe  and  reverence. 
The  book  of  Revelation  is  pre-eminently  a 
book  of  symbols  and  in  the  interpretation  and 
application  of  the  symbols  of  this  particular 
passag-e,  expositors  have  by  no  means  been 
ag-reed.  And  without  the  least  pretense  to 
uncommon  orig-inality  w^e  shall  venture  to 
make  a  new  application  of  these  symbols  for 
your  consideration  this  evening-. 

We  shall  apply  them  and  endeavor  to  make 
g-ood  that  application,  to  Intemperance  and  its 
train  of  consequences. 

And  why  not?  War  is  symbolized  in  this 
book.  Famine  is  symbolized.  Pestilence  that 
walketh  in  darkness,  and  destruction  that 
wasteth  at  noon  day,  are  symbolized.  And 
why  not  that  more  fearful  curse,  that  unsur- 
passed evil  which  entails  upon  the  human  fam- 
ily far  more  widespread  and  dreadful  calam- 
ities than  war,  famine  and  pestilence  com- 
bined. This  is  not  an  exag-g-erated  statement, 
but  is  fully  corroborated  by  carefully  pre- 
pared and  thoroughly  reliable  statistics. 


146 

Now  lor  tlic  symbols  and  their  application. 

The  writer  of  this  wonderfnl  hook  has  in 
vision  a  train — a  procession.  At  the  head  of 
this  procession  is  a  pale  horse  with  his  rider. 
The  name  of  the  rider  is  Death,  and  Hell  fol- 
lowed with  him  and  made  up  the  train. 

The  Pale  Horse  is  Intemperance.  The 
rider,  which  personifies  the  direct  conse- 
quences of  intemperance,  is  Death.  Hell  or 
Hades,  which  makes  up  the  mij^hty  proces- 
sion— the  dark  abyss  whose  depths  have  never 
been  measured — whose  g-loomy  recesses  have 
never  been  surveyed,  follows  to  eng-ulf  and 
swallow  everythinor  that  is  honest,  just,  pure, 
lovely,  or  of  g-ood  report,  in  short,  everything- 
that  makes  life  pleasant  and  desirable. 

This  represents  the  squalid  wretchedness, 
the  untold  and  indescribable  devastation, 
moral  and  physical,  which  intemperance  en- 
tails upon  the  human  family. 

But  let  us  make  up  the  mig-hty  train. 

First.  The  Pale  Horse.  This  word  des- 
cribing- the  color  or  appearance  of  the  horse 
is  fearfully  sig-nificant  and  is  not  fully  ex- 
pressed by  the  word  pale.  It  means  a  livid 
pallor — a  peculiar  combination  of  black  and 
blue  so  as  to  produce  a  purple  pallor,  such 
as  is  seen  in  the  bloated  face  of  him  who  died 
after  a  protracted  season  of  debauchery,  the 
victim    of    intemperance.     The    rider  of   this 


147 

pale   horse  the  writer  does  not  describe,  but 
he  calls  him  Death. 

This  pale  horse  with  his  rider  is  at  the  head 
of  the  column. 

But  let  us  in  the  first  place  make  a  street  or 
way  for  this  procession. 

And  in  order  that  saloon  keepers  and  all 
that  are  eng-ag-ed  in  the  nefarious  traffic  may- 
have  a  clear  and  impressive  view  of  the  extent 
of  their  work  of  devastation,  we  will  arrang-e 
their  shops,  and  we  embrace  only  those  in  our 
own  beloved  country,  in  two  continuous  par- 
allel lines  and  we  have  a  compact  street  more 
than  one  hundred  miles  in  leng-th. 

As  you  pass  along-  this  street  you  will  see 
mag-nificent  palaces  with  marble  fronts,  fitted 
up  in  the  most  g-org-eous  and  expensive  man- 
ner to  allure  the  rich,  the  noble,  the  educated, 
the  refined,  the  g-ay  and  the  g-iddy,  within 
their  g-ilded  walls  to  sip  the  poison  from 
g-olden  g-oblets.  You  will  also  see  low,  loath- 
some dog-g-eries,  patronized  by  the  masses 
from  the  slums  of  cities  and  towns.  These 
are  the  extremes.  Then  there  is  every  inter- 
mediate g-rade,  so  that  all  classes  are  em- 
braced within  their  destructive  purposes. 

Death  upon  the  Pale  Horse  triumphantly 
enters  this  long-  street,  this  mig-hty  avenue  of 
destruction — the  murmuring-  winds  of  heaven 
mournfully  playing-  the  death  dirg-e — followed 


148 

first  by  a  funeral  procession,  composed  of 
those  who  have  died  as  the  direct  effects  of 
intoxication  in  a  sin^jj-le  year — one  hundred  and 
fifty-two  thousand  in  number,  and  makin^j^  a 
procession  more  than  fifty  miles  in  len<^th, 
takino-  many  days  to  pass  a  g^iven  point. 
Tramp,  tramp,  this  sad  and  melancholy  cor- 
tege moves  nig-ht  and  day. 

Among-  the  dead  you  will  see  representatives 
from  every  class  of  society — senators,  gfovern- 
ors,  g"enerals,  lawyers,  doctors,  professors 
from  colleg"es,  ministers  of  the  g^ospel,  farm- 
ers, mechanics,  students,  clerks,  old,  middle 
ag*ed,  young-,  and  not  a  few  females. 

And  then  add  to  this  long-  procession  all 
who  have  lost  their  lives  indirectly  from  in- 
temperance— those  who  have  been  murdered — 
wives  and  children  who  have  died  by  the  cru- 
elty and  neg-lect  of  drunken  husbands  and 
fathers — the  thousands  that  have  lost  their 
lives  on  railroads  and  steamboats  and  other- 
wise, throug-h  the  stupidity  and  recklessness 
of  employes,  caused  by  drink,  and  the  mig-hty 
column  is  nearly  doubled. 

And  as  a  larg-e  majority  of  those  composing- 
this  part  of  the  procession  are  husbands  and 
fathers,  the  next  to  file  in  are  the  mourners. 
They  come  in  all  the  sad  and  squalid  wretch- 
edness and  misery  which  intemperance  en- 
tails.    One    hundred    thousand    widows    and 


149 

three  hundred  thousand  children  moving-  in 
double  file  making-  a  procession  many  miles  in 
length.  They  come  from  dark,  damp,  gloomy 
cellars,  filthy  garrets,  alms  houses,  poor 
houses  and  insane  asylums. 

The  wails  of  these  worse  than  widowed 
women,  the  cries  of  these  worse  than  orphaned 
children,  ascend  to  heaven  and  call  in  trumpet 
tones  for  veng-eance  upon  their  inhuman  tor- 
menters— the  brutal  authors  of  their  sorrows. 
See  the  heart-broken  wife  and  mother,  with  a 
face  haggard  with  care  and  want  as  she  tries 
in  vain  to  hush  the  cries  of  a  hung-ry  babe. 
Hear  the  lamentations  of  mothers  over  sons 
who  have  gone  down  early  in  life  to  drunk- 
ard's graves.  "Oh,  my  son,  my  darling-  son, 
would  to  God  I  had  died  for  thee  and  with 
thee  ere  thou  didst  open  thine  eyes  upon  a 
rum  cursed  earth." 

Look,  my  hearers,  at  this  saddest  of  all 
funeral  corteg-es  as  it  is  moving-.  Inspect 
each  family  g-roup  as  it  passes.  See  that  wid- 
owed mother,  pale,  haggard,  forlorn,  carrying- 
a  puny,  sickly  child  in  her  arms,  leading-  an- 
other by  the  hand,  followed  by  three  or  four 
more  without  the  first  expression  of  youthful 
vivacity  and  cheerfulness  in  their  faces,  all 
utterly  crushed  out  by  the  demon  of  intem- 
perance. 

What  we  have  thus  briefly   referred  to  in 


150 

the  appearance  of  this  ])rocession  of  mourners 
is  only  some  of  the  outside  visible  fruits  of 
intemperance — of  the  rum  traffic. 

But  the  most  vivid,  the  strongest  imag'ina- 
tion  fails  to  brin^-  out  the  scenes  which  lie 
back  of  the  visible  and  apparent  ravai^^es  of  in- 
temperance, and  far  deeper  than  all  these, 
there  lies  a  field  of  desolation,  of  devastation 
and  ruin,  which  has  never  been  explored  and 
never  can  be  described.  "It  is  the  wasted 
realm  of  social  affection,  the  violated  sanc- 
tuary of  domestic  peace."  In  that  field  the 
brig*htest  hopes  have  been  blasted,  the  most 
cherished  aspirations  disappointed,  ambition 
crushed  and  loving"  hearts  broken. 

Many  years  ag-o,  in  one  of  the  eastern  states, 
a  young-  couple  were  united  in  marriag-e. 
They  were  well  educated,  moved  in  the  best 
circles  of  society,  and  w^ere  respected  by  all. 

Their  wedding-  festivities  were  not  shaded 
by  a  sing-le  misg-iving*  of  either  party.  They 
started  out  upon  life's  voyag-e  with  apparently 
no  adverse  breeze  or  threatening-  cloud.  The 
future  however  revealed  the  fact  that  a  small 
cloud  "like  a  man's  hand"  lay  concealed  be- 
low the  horizon,  whose  dark  hues,  as  it  g-rad- 
ually  came  in  sig-ht,  were  in  a  measure  di- 
vested of  their  ug-liness  by  the  brilliant  rays 
of  the  morning-  sun.  But  that  cloud,  small 
and    then    foreboding"     no    alarming-    dang-er. 


151 

gradually  rose  and  expanded  until  the  whole 
heavens  were  overcast,  and  it  poured  its  des- 
tructive fiery  bolts  into  the  once  happy  family. 

The  fact  was,  though  successfull}^  con- 
cealed, the  young  man  had  contracted  a  taste 
for  intoxicating-  drink.  Without  following  the 
history  of  the  family,  always  the  same  under 
like  circumstances,  things  went  from  bad  to 
worse  until  years  of  wretchedness  had  passed. 
One  winter  night  the  loving,  confiding  wife, 
now  a  mother  of  several  children,  in  a  cold, 
cheerless  house,  after  putting  the  older  ones 
to  bed  and  caring  for  them  as  best  she  could, 
sat  holding  a  sick  one  upon  her  lap.  The  hus- 
band and  father  came  home  at  a  late  hour 
crazed  with  whiskey.  Enraged  because  his 
supper  was  not  ready  he  seized  an  old  fash- 
ioned house  shovel  and  with  one  terrible  blow 
upon  her  head  felled  her  to  the  floor.  An 
alarm  was  given  by  the  older  children  and 
when  the  neighbors  came  they  found  the  poor 
woman  already  dead  with  tear  stained  cheeks. 

Now  take  those  tears  as  the  representative 
of  all  the  tears  caused  by  the  intemperance  of 
that  husband  and  father,  and  suppose  them  to 
be  the  representatives  of  all  the  sorrow  and 
wretchedness  caused  directly  and  indirectly 
by  his  intemperance;  then  let  the  history  of 
those  tears  be  fully  written,  and  we  have  a 
description  of  the  devastation  of  intemperance 


152 

in  one  family  and  its  immediate  connections. 
We  sav  its  connections,  for  let  it  be  borne  in 
mind  that  that  intemperate  man  was  connected 
by  stron<)f  and  tender  ties  to  others  besides 
his  wife  and  children.  He  was  a  son  and 
brother  as  well  as  a  husband  and  father.  Fur- 
thermore, that  dead  wife  and  mother  was  also 
a  daug-hter  and  sister,  by  reason  of  which  sor- 
row and  sadness  were  carried  into  other 
hearts  and  other  families.  And  then  let  it 
be  borne  in  mind  that  the  consequences  of 
that  father's  intemperance  are  entailed  upon 
his  children  and  perhaps  upon  children's 
children  even  to  the  third  and  fourth  gener- 
ations. 

But  w^e  must  pass  on.  Must  leave  this  part 
of  Hell  that  follows  in  the  train  of  Death  upon 
the  Pale  Horse,  thoug-h  by  no  means  have  we 
reached  the  end  of  the  mighty  column. 

The  next  in  the  procession  are  from  the 
jails,  houses  of  correction,  prisons,  peniten- 
tiaries, and  the  like.  The  cause  of  their  be- 
ing in  those  places  is  told  in  one  word — 
whiskey. 

Their  number  amounts  to  over  one  hundred 
thousand  annually,  guilty  of  every  shade  of 
crime  from  petty  larceny  to  the  most  brutal 
murder.  There  is  nothing-  in  all  nature  that 
has  the  power  like  intoxicating  drinks  to  stu- 
pify  the  conscience,  to  paralyze  the  moral  sen- 


153 

timents,  to  blot  out  the  affection,  in  short,  to 
so  completely  brutalize  the  entire  man.  Un- 
der its  influence  husbands  murder  wives. 
Parents  murder  children,  children  murder 
parents,  brothers  murder  brothers,  neig^hbors 
murder  neighbors. 

This  immense  army  of  criminals  is  also 
composed  of  representatives  of  every  class  of 
community,  every  occupation,  every  ag-e  and 
of  both  sexes. 

Now,  my  friends,  could  all  the  bloody,  re- 
volting* and  trag-ical  circumstances  connected 
with  the  perpetration  of  all  the  crimes  this 
mig-hty  army  are  g-uilty  of  be  enacted  before 
our  own  eyes,  we  mig'ht  be  prepared  in  some 
measure  to  appreciate  the  application  of  the 
symbols  of  the  text.  And  Hell  followed  in 
the  train. 

But  we  have  not  yet  reached  the  end  of  this 
mig^hty  column.  Still  they  come.  It  reaches 
back  to  an  immeasurable  distance.  The  van 
of  another  division  crowds  closely  upon  the 
rear  of  the  preceding-,  and  the  thousands  of 
the  approaching"  column  will  soon  take  the 
places  of  those  g-one  before. 

The  next  in  the  procession  are  the  living- 
drunkards  and  the  moderate  drinkers,  so 
called.  These  tw^o  classes  are  so  thoroug-hly 
interming-led  and  mixed  up,  we  will  make  no 
attempt  to  separate  them. 


154 

They  bet^fin  witli  hecr  and  wiiu'  and  end 
with  whiskey.  They  be^in  with  ti])])lin<4-,  and 
end  with  drunkenness.  They  bet^in  in  the 
parlors  on  Turkish  and  velvet  carpets,  in  the 
marble  front  and  oforo-eously  furnished  sa- 
loons, and  end  in  the  lowest  and  most  filthy 
dives,  and  in  the  o-utter.  They  beg-in  with 
respectability  and  end  with  debauchery, 
shame  and  crime. 

This  class  is  far  more  numerous  than  any, 
and  perhaps  all  that  preceded.  Its  numbers 
g-o  into  millions.  Prom  this  class  the  others 
are  recruited.  More,  if  it  was  not  for  this 
class  the  preceding"  ones  would  have  no  exist- 
ence. Thousands  of  this  class  who  seem  to 
be  so  far  towards  the  rear  of  the  mig*hty 
column  will  very  soon  find  themselves  in  close 
proximity  to  the  Pale  Horse  with  his  rider. 
Tramp,  tramp,  the  procession  moves  steadily 
along  '*to  that  undiscovered  country  from 
whose  bourne  no  traveler  returns." 

This  vast  multitude  in  every  stage  of  pro- 
gress in  the  broad  way  that  leads  to  the 
drunkard's  death  and  to  his  end,  is  composed 
of  husbands,  fathers,  sons,  brothers,  wives, 
mothers,  daughters,  sisters,  and  more  dis- 
tant relations.  Hence  we  shall  be  justified  in 
repeating-  a  statement  before  made:  There 
are  scenes  which  lie  back  of  the  visible  and 
apparent    ravages   of    intemperance    and    far 


155 

deeper  than  all  these,  there  lies  a  field  of  des- 
olation, of  devastation  and  ruin  which  has 
never  been  explored  and  never  can  be  des- 
cribed. It  is  the  wasted  realm  of  the  strong- 
est and  most  tender  social  affection,  the  vio- 
lated sanctuary  of  domestic  peace. 

In  that  field  the  brig-htest  hopes  are  blasted, 
the  most  cherished  anticipations  disappointed, 
ambition  crushed  and  loving-  hearts  broken. 

All  other  evils  and  ag-ents  combined  em- 
ployed by  the  devil  himself  do  not  and  cannot 
do  so  much  to  make  hell  on  earth  as  intoxicat- 
ing drinks. 

A  person  may  realize  the  truth  of  this  state- 
ment to  some  extent,  by  taking-  a  nig-ht  walk 
through  the  streets  and  alleys  and  avenues  of 
any  g-reat  city,  where  every  other  house  is  a 
brothel  and  the  intermediate  one  a  saloon  of 
the  lowest  order,  mutually  furnishing-  patron- 
age to  each  other. 

And  lastly  the  class  bringing-  up  the  rear  of 
the  column  are  the  tax  payers,  the  masses 
who  either  voluntarily  or  by  constraint,  pay 
tribute  to  intemperance.  This  monster  evil 
is  terribly  exacting-  and  lays  every  industry 
of  the  nation  under  contribution.  It  crowds 
our  jails,  penitentiaries,  poor  houses,  alms 
houses  and  asylums  with  inmates.  It  length- 
ens the  criminal  dockets  of  our  courts. 

More  money  is  paid  out  in  the  United  States 


156 

in  one  year  for  intoxicatinf>-  drinks  and  their 
immediate  consecjuences  than  for  flour  and 
meal,  cotton  g-oods,  woolen  g-oods,  clothing-, 
boots  and  shoes,  newspapers  and  books.  If 
all  the  money  expended  in  the  United  States 
annually  for  intoxicating-  liquors  and  their  di- 
rect consequences  was  devoted  to  the  liquida- 
tion of  the  national  debt,  it  would  be  wiped 
out  in  less  than  three  years.  The  state  of 
Iowa  alone,  with  her  string-ent  liquor  law, 
spends  annually  nearly  thirty-six  millions  for 
the  vile  stuff. 

But  we  will  pass  on.  If  we  are  correct  in 
this  application  of  the  symbols  already  no- 
ticed, it  will  not  be  difficult  to  apply  the 
balance. 

"And  the  power  was  g-iven  unto  them  over 
the  fourth  part  of  the  earth  to  kill  with  the 
sword,  and  with  hung-er,  and  with  death  by 
the  beasts  of  the  earth." 

"Over  a  fourth  of  the  earth." 

By  this  we  are  to  understand,  not  an  exact 
definite  part,  but  a  widespread  power  to  con- 
trol, a  g-eneral  sweeping-  calamity.  Pesti- 
lence, however  destructive,  is  confined  to  lo- 
calities. War,  however  desolating-,  is  limited 
in  its  calamities.  Famine,  however  appalling-, 
is  g-enerally  confined  to  communities.  But 
the    devastations    of    intemperance    are    not 


157 

bounded    by   communities,   nations,    or    conti- 
nents. 

**To  kill  with  the  sword." 
This  means  death  by  violence,  murder  in  its 
several  deg-rees.     It  is  a  well  known  fact  that 
such   deaths  are  the  prominent  fruits  of  in- 
temperance. 

"And  with  hung-er." 

An  unmeasured  future  alone  can  reveal  the 
countless  number  of  human  being^s  who  have 
died  and  will  yet  die  by  starvation  or  by  dis- 
eases   caused    by  want  of   food,   or  in    conse- 
quence of  unwholesome  food,  all  broug-ht  about 
by  intemperance.     And  the  number  would  be 
more  than  doubled  if  it  were  not  for  the  pub- 
lic   provision    made   to   feed  the   hung-ry  and 
starving-  victims  of  the  inhuman  traffic. 
*«And  to  kill  with  death." 
This  is  peculiar  lang-uag-e  and  is  intended 
to  express  a  most  sig-nificant  truth.     Death  is 
made  use  of  as  an  instrument  with  which  to 
kill,  i.  e,,  death  is  inherent  in  the  instrument. 
When  the  sons  of  the  prophets  were  eating- 
poisoned  pottage  unawares,  one,  when  he  be- 
g-an  to  feel  the  effects  of  the  poison  cries  out 
to   Elisha:     **0h  thou    man  of   God,  there  is 
death  in  the  pot;"  i.  e.  we  shall  be  killed  by 
death  in  the  pot. 

The  application  of  this  to  our  present  sub- 
ject is  easy  and  perfectly  apposite.     As  an  in- 


15S 

stninient  of  killing-,  death  or  a  deadly  poison 
is  an  inherent  element  of  alcohol. 

"And  by  the  beasts  of  the  earth." 

Such  beasts  are  symbols  of  sava<^e  ferocity. 
With  remorseless  indiiference,  they  rend,  kill 
and  devour.  They  know  no  repect  or  sympa- 
thy. The  ag-ed,  the  young-,  the  strong-  man, 
the  feeble  delicate  female,  childhood  and 
helpless  infancy  are  alike  to  them.  They 
hide,  they  crouch,  they  disguise,  they  allure 
to  slay  and  devour. 

These  symbolize  the  rum-seller. 

The  hung-ry  lion  or  tig-er  does  not  rend,  kill 
and  devour  its  prey  with  more  remorseless  in- 
difference, with  less  sympathy  for  its  bleed- 
ing, dying-  victim,  than  the  rum-seller,  as  he 
plies  his  business  of  devastation  and  ruin. 
It  matters  not  to  him  what  the  consequences 
may  be  personally  to  the  victim  of  his  insatia- 
ble greed  for  g-ain.  or  what  may  be  the  conse- 
quences to  his  suffering-  family.  It  makes  no 
difference  how  earnestly  wife  and  children 
may  plead  to  g-ive  no  more  drink,  he  will  let 
him  have  the  poison  just  as  long-  as  he  has  a 
dime  to  pay  for  it. 

John  B.  Goug-h  relates  the  following-  which 
occurred  in  Massachusetts: 

"A  poor  old  lady,  formerly  living-  in  afflu- 
ence, had  a  husband  and  two  sons  who  became 
intemperate.     One  morning-  a  son  was  found 


159 

dead  with  his  head  in  a  pool  of  water,  into 
which  he  had  fallen  while  intoxicated.  In 
view  of  this  terrible  affliction,  she  wrote  a  pe- 
tition to  her  neig^hbor,  the  rum-seller,  entreat- 
ing- him  to  g-ive  her  husband  and  remaining- 
son  no  more  liquor.  Such  a  petition  coming" 
from  the  w^ife  and  mother,  under  such  circum- 
stances, one  would  think  might  have  melted  a 
heart  of  adamant.  But  it  did  not  melt  the 
rum-seller's  heart.  He  took  the  petition, 
read  it,  deliberately  cut  it  into  tapers  and  put 
them  in  a  tumbler,  and  when  the  father  and 
son  came  into  the  bar  room,  he  would  g-ive 
them  cig-ars  and  those  tapers  to  light  them. 
This  he  continued  until  they  were  all  con- 
sumed, and  then  boasted  that  he  had  made  the 
father  and  son  burn  up  the  pious  petition  of 
the  old  woman." 

"And  I  looked  and  beheld  a  Pale  Horse  and 
his  name  that  sat  on  him  was  Death,  and  Hell 
followed  with  him." 


Chapter  XVI. 


HISTORICAL   ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  SEPTEMBER  22,  1892,  AT  SEMI-CEN- 
TENNIAL JUBILEE  OF  THE  DAVENPORT  BAP- 
TIST ASSOCIATION,  AT  CLINTON,  IOWA. 


"In  this  historical  address  we  wish  to  illus- 
trate Bible  lessons  to  the  praise  and  g"lory  of 
God.  Such  lessons  as  are  found  in  Josh.  1: 
G-7:  "Be  strong- and  of  g-ood  courag-e.  Only 
be  thou  strong-  and  very  courag-eous,  that 
thou  mayest  observe  to  do  all  the  law  which 
Moses,  My  servant,  commanded  thee.  Turn 
not  from  it,  to  the  rig-ht  hand  or  to  the  left, 
that  thou  mayest  prosper  whithersoever  thou 
g-oest." 

Also,  Isa.  6:  8-9:  "I  heard  the  voice  of  the 
Lord  saying-:  Whom  shall  I  send  and  who 
will  g-o  for  Us?  Then  said  I,  here  am  I;  send 
me.     And  He  said,  Go." 

[160] 


161 

Also,  Mark  16:  15:  "And  He  said  unto 
them,  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the 
g-ospel  to  every  creature." 

Also,  Ps.  37:  3:     "Trust  in  the  Lord  and  do 
g-ood,  and   thou   shall   dwell   in    the   land  and 
verily  thou  shalt  be  fed." 
Dwell  in  the  land. 

Our  Iowa  is  indeed  a  beautiful  land.  A 
g-oodly  land.  A  land  desirable  to  dwell  in. 
We  do  not  wonder  the  Indians,  when  the  time 
came  to  take  a  final  leave  of  this  beautiful  land 
and  move  on  towards  the  setting-  sun,  wept 
like  children. 

The  first,  or  Black  Hawk  purchase,  made  in 
1832,  taking-  effect  June,  1833,  embraced  a 
strip  fifty  miles  wide  west  of  the  Mississippi 
river,  extending  from  the  state  of  Missouri  on 
the  south  to  the  neutral  ground  on  the  north, 
containing-  about  six  million  acres. 

The  second  purchase,  made  in  1837,  taking- 
effect  February,  1838,  was  a  strip  west  of  the 
first  and  supposed  to  contain  1,250,000  acres. 
The  balance  of  Iowa  was  opened  for  settle- 
ment in  May,  1843.  In  one  year  from  the  time 
the  first  or  Black  Hawk  purchase  took  effect, 
the  first  Baptist  Church  in  Iowa  was  org-an- 
ized  nine  or  ten  miles  west  of  Burling-ton, 
and  called  the  Long  Creek  (now  Danville) 
Baptist  Church.  The  six  Iowa  Churches 
composing    the    Davenport  Association  were 


1(»2 

all  ()r<4ani/cd  wliilr  \'an  liurun,  jL'ffers(jn, 
Was  hi  Hilton,  Johnson,  Linn,  Buchanan,  Fay- 
ette and  Clayton  counties  were  the  western 
boundary  of  civilization,  and  the  eastern 
boundary  of  a  vast  territory  extendi njjf  to  the 
British  possessions  on  the  north  and  the  Pa- 
cific on  the  west,  and  in  the  sole  possession 
of  Indians  and  wild  beasts.  At  that  time 
the  nearest  railroad  to  Iowa  had  not  reached 
as  far  west  as  the  city  of  BuiTalo,  and 
Chicaofo  was  a  country  villa.o-e  in  a  v,estern 
sloug'h,  or  mud  hole.  And  at  that  time  the 
impression  was  g-eneral  that  in  consequence 
of  the  scarcity  of  fuel  and  fencing-  material, 
and  so  far  from  w^ater  communication,  the 
great  prairies  of  Illinois  and  Iowa  would  never 
be  settled. 

The  contrast  between  then  and  now  came 
most  impressively  a  few^  weeks  ag^o  as  we 
sped  on  a  Burling-ton  train  throug-h  the  luxur- 
iant g^rain  fields  of  Iowa  and  Nebraska,  and  as 
^ve  rushed  along-,  drawn  by  g-reat  mog^ul  en- 
g-ines,  scaling'  the  snowy  heig^hts  and  plung-- 
ing-  throug-h  the  dark  and  awful  g-ranite  canons 
of  Colorado,  and  as  we  walked  the  streets  of 
thein  growing-  and  prosperous  cities  and 
towns,  and  as  we  considered  that  like  condi- 
tions continue  for  many  hundred  miles  to  the 
Pacific  ocean. 

The  first  Baptist  Church  west  of  the  Mis- 


163 

sissippi  river,  north  of  Missouri,  was  organ- 
ized in  a  little  loo-  cabin  nine  miles  west  of  the 
city  of  Burling-ton.  This  interesting-  event 
took  place  June  20,  1834,  and  consisted  of 
eleven  members,  four  brethren  and  seven  sis- 
ters, namely,  Enoch  Cyrus,  Prank  Cyrus, 
Rebecca  Cyrus,  Anna  Cyrus,  Rachel  Dickens, 
Mary  Ann  Dickens,  Noble  Housely,  Naomi 
Housely,  William  Manly,  Hepzibah  Manly  and 
Jane  Lamb.  Elders  John  Log-an  and  Gard- 
ner Bassett,  of  Illinois,  were  present  to  en- 
courao-e  and  assist  in  the  organization  of  the 
church.  It  was  called  the  Long-  Creek 
Church. 

Four  or  five  years  after,  close  by  this  same 
cabin  on  the  prairie  lawn,  the  first  Associa- 
tion west  of  the  Mississippi  river  was  organ- 
ized, called  Des  Moines  Association.  In  Oct- 
ober, 1889,  on  a  bright  autumn  day,  as  though 
God  smiled  upon  the  scene,  a  large  concourse 
of  people  gathered  around  the  remains  of  the 
little  cabin  to  appropriately  observe  memorial 
services  of  the  fift3^-fourth  anniversary  of  the 
Church,  and  the  fiftieth  of  the  Association. 
How  intensely  interesting'  the  thought  and 
imaginations  that  crowded  upon  the  mind  and 
solemnly  and  joyfully  oppressed  our  hearts, 
as  we  looked  upon  the  remains  of  that  cabin 
and  thought  of  the  happy  meeting  more  than 
fifty-four  3^ears  before — of  the  songs  of  praise, 


164 

''All  Hail  the  Power  of  Jesus  Name,"  and  the 
sermon  by  Elder  Lo^-an  and  the  prayer  by 
Elder  Bassett  that  God  would  be  to  the  dear 
little  Church  in  the  wilderness  "a  pillar  of 
cloud  by  day  and  a  pillar  of  lire  by  ni<^ht/'  to 
lead  and  protect.  That  church,  now  Danville, 
yet  lives,  strong-  in  the  Lord  and  in  the  power 
of  His  mig-ht. 

We  will  g-ive  a  brief  history  of  the  organi- 
zation of  the  seven  Churches  composing-  the 
Baptist  Association,  org-anized  in  Davenport, 
September  16,  1842.  The  second  west  of  the 
Mississippi  river,  north  of    Missouri. 

We  will  beg-in  with  LeClaire,  as  this  was  the 
first  Baptist  Church  org-anized  west  of  the 
Mississippi  and  north  of  Des  Moines  county. 
Early  in  1839,  Elder  Rodolphus  Weston,  of 
Carthage,  Hancock  county,  Illinois,  made  a 
missionary  tour  up  the  Mississippi  as  far 
north  as  Scott  county,  Iowa,  preaching-  the 
precious  g-ospel  to  the  settlers.  In  the  upper 
part  of  Scott  county  he  stopped  a  number  of 
days  to  preach  and  visit  the  people.  The  re- 
sult was  the  org-anization  of  a  Church  of  six 
members,  viz:  Joseph  Turner  and  Tacy,  his 
wife.  Jiving- a  mile  west  of  where  LeClaire  now 
stands.  William  Palmer  and  Amanda,  his 
wife,  living-  in  the  Wapsy  Bottom,  ten  miles 
north  of  brother  Turner's,  and  William  Rowe 
and  Mary,  his  wife,  living-  in   a  log-  cabin  on 


165 

the  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  midway  between 
the  two  extremes.     The  little  Church  was  or- 
ganized  in    brother   Rowe's    house    June    10, 
1839,  and  this  was   the  place  of   meeting-  for 
several  years.     As  brother  Palmer  and  wife, 
and   brother  Rowe  and  wife  emig-rated  from 
Bath,  Steuben  county,  New  York;  in  grateful 
remembrance  of  the  dear  old  home  they  called 
it  the  Bath  Baptist  Church.     This  name  was 
retained     until     April,     1844,    when     it    was 
changed      to      LeClaire.       Brother      Palmer 
brought  with  him  from  New  York  a  favorite 
family  horse,  very  old,  but  true  and  faithful. 
The   old    horse's    name   was   "Doc."     People 
living-  on  the  road  between  brother  Palmer's 
and  brother  Rowe's  always  knew  when  there 
was  a  meeting-  of  the  Church,  for  they  were 
sure   to  see  sister   Palmer   riding-  old  "Doc" 
and  brother  Palmer  walking-  by  her  side.     El- 
der Weston  was  invited  to  become  pastor;  ac- 
cepted and  returned  to  Carthage  to  arrange 
family    matters.     He   was  taken   sick,    hover- 
ing- between   life  and  death  for    weeks.     His 
cherished  plans  and  purposes  had  to  be  given 
up,    and    he    never    returned.     The    Church 
kept  up   Covenant  meetings  and  had  preach- 
ing   occasionally.       Two     months    after    the 
Church    was    organized,   Daniel  C.  Davidson, 
living  on  Crow  Creek,  a  few  miles  above  Dav- 
enport, united  by  letter.     Ten   months  later 


PollyMcKinstcr  joiiu'd  1)\-  K'tU'r.  Ncarlx'  two 
ye.'irs  later  Koht'rt  Hilton  and  Orleans  Blan- 
chard,  livinj^-  in  Illinois  baciv  of  Port  Bvron, 
joined  by  letter.  At  the  time  the  Daven- 
port Association  was  formed,  it  reported  a 
membership  of  eleven.  One  of  the  constit- 
uent   members,  brother  Rowe,  had  died. 

The  first  revival  and  the  iirst  additions  by 
baj^tism  occurred  in  the  fall  of  1843,  under 
the  labors  of  Elder  Jessie  N.  Seely.  Twen- 
ty-two were  added  by  baptism  and  ei^-ht  by 
letter.  From  this  time  for  years  it  enjoyed  a 
g-ood  measure  of  prosperity  until  the  Zion 
Church  was  oro-anized  a  few  miles  back  of 
LeClaire,  depriving-  it  of  most  of  its  rural 
field  and  membership,  and  left  it  little  but 
the  fluctuating-  population  of  the  villag^e. 

May  God  in  His  mercy  send  prosperity  and 
save  it  from  extinction. 

Davenport — This  is  the  next  church  in  the 
date  of  its  org-anization,  September  14,  1839, 
consisting-  of  eleven  members.  Elder  Calvin 
Greenleaf,  of  Grig-g-sville,  Illinois,  w^as  com- 
missioned in  the  spring-  of  1839  by  the  Home 
Missionary  Societ\^  to  labor  in  Davenport. 
He  commenced  in  June  and  remained  but  two 
months.  Elder  Titus  Gillett,  of  Rock  Island, 
held  occasional  preaching  services  in  the  place, 
and  probably  it  was  due  to  his  labors  the 
Church  was  constituted.  For  several  months 
it  had  the  services  of  Oliver  Emerson,  a  young- 


167 

man  from  Ohio,  but  declined  to  ordain  him  as 
his  views  on  the  subject  of  the  Lord's  supper 
did  not  accord  with  the  Baptists,  and  he  be- 
came a  Conoregationalist. 

In  June,  1841,  Elder  Ezra  Pisher  was  com- 
missioned by  the  Home  Missionary  Society  to 
labor  in  Davenport  and  Bloomino^ton  (Mus- 
catine). Before  the  close  of  the  first  year  he 
dropped  the  Davenport  part  of  his  field  and 
devoted  his  time  to  Muscatine  and  other 
places. 

November,  1842,  Elder  Charles  E.  Brown 
became  joint  pastor  of  the  Davenport  and 
Rock  Island  Churches.  In  the  following-  Feb- 
ruary revival  meeting's  were  held,  assisted  by 
Elder  T.  Powell,  in  the  Old  Court  House  in 
Rock  Island,  As  there  was  easy  communica- 
tion between  the  two  places  by  a  safe  ice 
bridg-e  on  the  Mississippi  river,  during-  that 
long-,  cold  winter  Davenport  shared  largely  in 
the  g-ood  work,  receiving-  eig'hteen  by  baptism, 
and  fifteen  by  letter.  Rock  Island  received 
twenty  by  baptism  and  five  by  letter. 

During-  the  following-  summer,  1843,  Elder 
Brown  made  several  missionary  tours  up  the 
Mississippi  on  both  sides  as  far  as  Lyons  and 
Pulton;  org-anized  a  Church  at  Camanche,  and 
one  at  Port  Byron,  and  baptized  in  both 
places.  These  early  Churches  had  the  true 
missionary  spirit  and   said  to   their   pastors, 


lf)8 

"Go,  preach  to  the  destitute  in  regions  be- 
yond." 

Dubuque — This  is  the  next  Church,  organ- 
ized August  9,  1840,  with  eleven  members. 
During  the  following  winter  it  had  preaching 
a  part  of  the  time  by  Elder  Warren  B.  Morey, 
of  the  Home  Missionary  Society  at  Galena, 
Illinois.  Elder  Burton  Carpenter  became 
pastor  in  the  spring  of  1841.  During  his  pas- 
torate of  three  years,  eleven  were  received 
by  baptism  and  eighteen  by  letter,  and  a  place 
of  worship,  yes,  a  meeting  house,  about  twenty 
by  thirty,  was  built.  Elder  Edward  S.  By- 
ron succeeded  Elder  Carpenter  in  Septem- 
ber, 1844. 

Iowa  City — This  Church  was  organized  by 
Elders  W.  B.  Morey  and  B.  Carpenter,  June 
26,  1841,  consisting  of  eleven  members.  The 
joyful  occasion  was  rendered  more  so  by  the 
baptism  of  two  rejoicing  candidates  in  the 
beautiful  Iowa  river,  Elder  Morey  officiating. 
There  w^as  joy  in  that  city.  Elder  Morey  was 
the  first  pastor.  After  the  first  year  his  field 
was  enlarged  by  the  Home  Missionary  Society 
to  take  in  low^a  City,  Marion,  in  Linn  county, 
and  the  Cedar  river  country.  The  first 
marked  religious  interest  in  the  Iowa  City 
Church  occurred  under  the  pastorate  of  Elder 
Dexter  P,  Smith,  during  the  winter  of  1845-6. 


169 

Nine  were  added  by  baptism  and  eig-ht  by 
letter. 

Muscatine — This  Church  was  organized  by 
Elder  Ezra  Fisher,  October  30,  1841,  consist- 
ing- of  six  members,  viz:  Stephen  Hedly,  Al- 
bert Beaty,  Julia  C.  Dew^bber,  Margaret  Mus- 
g-raves,  Betsy  Ing-als  and  Nancy  Bear.  Dur- 
ing- the  first  year  of  its  existence  four  were 
added  by  baptism  and  fourteen  by  letter. 
Elder  Fisher  was  the  first  pastor  and  left  in 
1844,  g-oing-  to  Oreg-on  in  1845. 

Rock  Island,  Illinois— This  Church  was  or- 
g-anized  June  6,  1837,  by  Elder  Titus  Gillett, 
who  was  its  first  pastor.  In  November,  1842, 
the  Church  called  Elder  C.  E.  Brown  to  preach 
the  following-  winter  and  in  May  "called  Elder 
Brown  to  be  co-pastor  w^ith  Elder  Gillett,  the 
two  to  receive  such  compensation  as  the  indi- 
vidual circumstances  of  the  members  would 
allow." 

Forks  of  the  Maquoketa — On  the  26th  of 
May,  1842,  under  appointment  from  the  Amer- 
ican Baptist  Home  Missionary  Society,  on  a 
salary  of  one  hundred  dollars,  the  payment  of 
which  was  made  conditional  that  the  balance 
of  the  missionary's  support  was  obtained  up- 
on the  field  of  his  labor.  Elder  Brown  came  to 
this  place. 

At  this  time  the  Home  Missionary  Society 
was  in  its  infancy  and  had  but  little   money 


170 

lor  its  consl.'inth'  i^row  inj^-  woi'k.  I)iirin<^-  its 
fiscal  and  missionary  year  of  1842  and  '43,  the 
receipts  of  the  Society  from  all  sources 
amounted  to  onl\-  S11,S()().51 ,  with  ei<>-hty-five 
missionaries  in  the  Held,  receiving-  from  the 
Society  an  average  of  about  S131.00  each,  and 
obtaining^  the  balance — whatever  that  mig-ht 
mean — from  their  respective  fields  of  labor. 
We  distinctly  remember  that  the  balance  con- 
tained very  little  cash.  With  no  intention  of 
making-  invidious  comparisons,  we  think  there 
was  more  of  the  ag'gfressive  missionary  spirit 
then,  than  now.  We  will  compare  the  fiscal 
and  missionary  year  of  1842-43  with  that  of 
1881-82,  the  fiftieth  year  of  the  Society  work. 
Then,  cash  receipts  were  $11,806.51;  now, 
$311,918.38.  Then,  eig-hty-five  missionaries 
in  the  field;  now%  five  hundred  and  twelve. 
Results:  Then,  the  eig-hty-five  missionaries 
org'anized  fifty  new  churches  in  one  year;  now, 
five  hundred  and  twelve  missionaries  organ- 
ized only  seventy-five  new  churches  in  one 
year.  Then,  eig^hty-five  missionaries  in  one 
year  baptized  one  thousand  four  hundred  and 
eig-hty-nine,  or  over  seventeen  each;  now,  five 
hundred  and  twelve  missionaries  baptize  in 
one  year  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  sev- 
enty-five, or  less  than  four  each. 

Two  of  the  six  Iowa  Churches  composing- 
the   Davenport   Association    commenced   with 


171 

six  members  each — LeClaire  and  Muscatine- 

Three — Davenport,  Dubuque  and  Iowa  City, 
commenced  with  eleven  each. 

One — Maquoketa,  with  fourteen. 

All  now  prospering-  except  LeClaire. 

A  Church  now  with  a  g-ood  house  of  worship 
and  plenty  of  perishing-  souls  around,  reduced 
to  a  membership  of  six  or  eleven,  or  twenty- 
five  or  thirty,  g-ives  up  and  says  "We  can't" 
and  dies. 

What  makes  the  difference? 

In  the  former  case  there  was  courag-e,  pur- 
pose, and  an  unfailing-  expectation  to  live  and 
prosper. 

In  the  latter  courag-e  is  g'one,  purpose  is 
g'one,  but  an  all-prevailing-  expectation  to  die 
is  ever  present. 

Next.  What  is  the  Bible  missionary  spirit 
embodied  in  the  commission  "Go  ye  into  all 
the  world,  etc.,  etc.?"  Paul  was  converted 
completely  into  this  spirit,  for  when  it  pleased 
God,  w^ho  called  him  by  His  Grace,  to  reveal 
His  son  in  me,  Gal.  1:15-16,  he  says:  "That 
I  mig-ht  preach  Him  among-  the  heathen,  im- 
mediately, I  conferred  not  Avith  flesh  and 
blood,  neither  went  I  up  to  Jerusalem,  but  I 
went  to  Arabia." 

A  vision  appeared  to  Paul  in  the  nig-ht; 
there  stood  a  man  saying-  :  "Come  over  into 
Macedonia,  and  help  us,  and  immediately  we 


172 

endeavored  to  ^ro  into  Macedonia,  assuredly 
gfathering-  that  the  Lord  had  called  us  to 
preach  the  gospel  unto  them.  Therefore, 
loosing-  from  Troas  we  came  with  a  straig^ht 
course  to  Samothracia  '•  ^'  "^  and  so  on  to 
Philippi,  the  chief  city  in  that  part  of  Mace- 
donia." In  another  place  Paul  says  of  him- 
self, ''as  poor,  yet  making-  many  rich;  as  hav- 
ing nothing-  yet  possessing-  all  thing's,"  etc. 
Now,  as  Paul  declares  that  he  was  poor  and 
had  nothing-  he  must  have  g-cne  forth  accepting^ 
to  the  fullest  extent  the  divine  assurance, 
"Trust  in  the  Lord  and  do  g-ood  and  verily 
thou  shalt  be  fed,"  and,  "Lo,  I  am  with  you 
always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world." 

If  we  understand  the  Bible  Missionary 
spirit,  the  question  as  to  salary  cuts  no  iig-ure 
whatever  in  making-  the  decision  "Assuredly 
g-athering  that  the  Lord  had  called  us  to 
preach  the  g-ospel  unto  them." 

For  want  of  this  Apostolic  Missionary  spirit 
hundreds  of  these  reduced  churches  have  died 
and  hundreds  more  must  die.  For  it  is  very 
certain  these  feeble  churches  cannot  pay  the 
salaries  now  demanded,  and  this  is  the  princi- 
pal reason  for  losing-  hope  and  courag-e.  This 
precious  divine  promise  was  intended  to  meet 
this  perplexing-  salary  business:  "Trust  in 
the  Lord  and  do  g-ood  and  thou  shalt  dwell  in 
the  land  and  verily  thou  shalt  be  fed." 


173 

We  believe  in  the  providence  of  God  and 
that  the  gold  and  the  silver  and  the  cattle  upon 
a  thousand  hills  are  His  and  at  His  control, 
and  upon  this  g-rand  truth  is  based  this  most 
precious  promise.  The  promise  does  not  re- 
lease even  the  poorest  of  Christians  from  the 
binding-  obligation  of  the  divine  command,  "To 
give  as  the  Lord  hath  prospered."  The  poor 
widow^'s  mites  must  be  given? 

Our  great  Captain  says,  "Go  ye  into  all  the 
world,"  etc. 

The  Bible  plan  is  given  in  Isaiah.  The 
Lord  said:  "Whom  shall  we  send  and  who 
will  go  for  us?"  God  calls  for  volunteers. 
The  response  comes  promptly,  "Here  am  I; 
send  me,"  The  Lord  says  "Go."  The  sal- 
ary question  is  settled  by  "Trust  in  the  Lord." 
One  reason  the  Methodists  are  more  success- 
ful than  any  other  denomination  in  a  new 
country  is  because  they  are  on  the  Bible  plan 
in  saying  to  their  preachers,  "Go." 

In  the  month  of  June,  1842,  at  Iowa  City, 
the  Iowa  Baptist  State  Convention  was  or- 
ganized. Delegates  from  churches  north  of 
the  Iowa  river  held  an  informal  meeting  to 
consider  the  subject  of  organizing  a  new  as- 
sociation, and  fixed  upon  Davenport  as  the 
place  and  the  16th  of  the  following  Septem- 
ber as  the  time  for  carrying  out  the  above 
purpose. 


174 

111  ])iirsnaiK"c'  ol  t  Ik'  .-Lhovc  .'ipj)()iiitniL'nt,  dcl- 
eo-ates  Iroin  tlu'  lollowini^-  cliurclu's  were 
present : 

Bath,  (LeClaire)  -  William  Palmer,  Benja- 
min l'\  Pike  and  Orleans  Blanchard. 

Bloom  in<,rton,  (Muscatine) — Elder  Ezra  Fish- 
er, pastor,  Moses  Perrin  and  W.  T.  Dewibber. 

Davenport — Hiram  Brown,  C.  C.  Blood,  J. 
M.  Eldredg-e. 

Dubuque — Elder  Burton  Carpenter,  pastor, 
and  Benjamin  Rupert. 

Iowa  City — Elder  Warren  B.  Morey,  pastor, 
and  A.  Denison. 

Forks  of  the  Maquoketa— Elder  C.  E.  Brown, 
pastor. 

Rock  Island,  111.— Elder  Titus  Gillett,  pas- 
tor, E.  F.  Calkins  and  Nelson  J.  Swart- 
wout. 

This  embraced  all  the  churches  north  of  the 
Iowa  river,  except  the  first,  Delaware,  in 
Delaware,  county,  Elder  Ira  Blanchard, 
pastor. 

Elder  Carpenter  w^as  chosen  moderator. 
Elder  Fisher,  clerk,  and  Elder  Brown  preached 
the  sermon.  Elder  Brown  is  the  only  one  of 
these- deleg-ates  now^  livino-. 

In  iixintr  the  time  for  the  annual  meeting-  of 
the  Association  two  important  considerations 
had  to  be  met.  1st.  To  avoid  the  sickly  sea- 
son in  autumn.     2nd.     To  have  it  at  the  time 


175 

of  wild  fruits,  fresh  vegetables  and  fat  chick- 
ens. But  as  all  these,  sickness,  fat  chickens 
and  fresh  veg-etables,  came  at  the  same  time 
of  the  year,  of  the  two  evils  we  concluded  to 
take  the  least,  and  have  the  chickens  and  take 
our  chances  with  the  ague,  and  fixed  on  Friday 
before  the  third  Sabbath  in  September,  and 
hold  the  meeting  over  the  Sabbath. 

This  time  remained  until  wise  men  came 
from  the  East  and  chano-ed  it,  to  the  o-reat 
detriment  of  the  spiritual  and  devotional  parts 
of  the  meeting'. 

The  first  annual  meeting  of  the  Association 
was  held  in  Dubuque,  commencing  Friday,  the 
15th  day  of  September,  1842.  Elder  W.  B. 
Morey  preached  the  introductory  sermon, 
George  S.  Hampton  was  chosen  moderator, 
and  Joseph  T.  Fales,  clerk. 

Although  the  delegates  had  to  travel  from 
sixty  to  ninety  miles  by  wagon,  a  good  repre- 
sentation was  present.  At  this  session  six 
new  churches  were  received  into  the  Associa- 
tion, viz  :  Fulton  and  Lyons,  Elder  E.  Mar- 
cellus,  pastor,  and  H.  Root,  delegates;  two 
added  by  baptism,  twelve  by  letter  ;  present 
membership  twelve. 

Camanche — No  pastor  ;  John  Welsh,  dele- 
gate ;  eight  added  bv  baptism;  whole  number 
twelve.      These   eight    were    baptised    at    the 


17() 

time  the  church  was  organized,  probably  June, 
1843,  bv  Elder  C.  E.  Brown. 

Port  Byron,  111. —  Daniel  Wilson,  delef^'-ate  ; 
four  added  by  baptism,  baptised  at  the  time 
the  church  was  org-anized,  June  or  July,  1843, 
by  Elder  C.  E.  Brown.    Whole  number  twenty. 

Marion — Org-anized  by  Elder  W.  B.  Morey 
in  the  summer  of  1843;  three  added  by  bap- 
tism, five  by  letter  ;  whole  number  thirty-four. 
Letter  but  no  deleg-ates. 

Cedar  River,  (on  the  Cedar  river  below 
where  Cedar  Rapids  now  stands) — Organized 
by  Elder  Morev  in  the  summer  of  1843;  five 
added  by  baptism;  whole  number  seventeen; 
Robert  R.  Rogers  and  Thomas  Fitz,  delegates. 

Galena,  111. — Elder  Joel  Wheeler,  pastor, 
John  T.  Templeton  and  John  H.  Champlin, 
delegates  ;  one  added  by  baptism,  ten  by  let- 
ter :  whole  number  thirty-four. 

The  statistical  aggreg-ate  was  reported  by 
the  churches  as  follows:  Sixty-five  added  by 
baptism,  sixt3^-four  by  letter,  twenty-six  dis- 
missed by  letter,  three  dropped,  one  died; 
whole  number  two  hundred  and  ninety-six. 

In  connection  with  the  minutes  was  printed 
an  article  by  Elder  Jacob  Knapp  on  com- 
munion.    All  done  for  Sll.OO. 

On  Sunday  Elder  Brown  preached  a  mis- 
sionary sermon,  after  which  a  collection  was 
taken  up,  amounting-  to  $8.00. 


177 

The  following-  memorandum  was  added  to 
the  minutes  by  the  clerk:  "Great  harmony 
and  g-ood  feeling-  prevailed  throug-h  all  the 
deliberations  and  the  brethren  evinced  a  de- 
termination to  g-o  forward  in  the  cause  of 
Christ  with  renewed  zeal." 

Before  closing-  this  address  I  wish  to  speak 
briefly  of  the  org-anization  of  the  Camanche 
Baptist  Church.  In  the  month  of  June,  1843, 
a  man  called  at  my  house  in  Davenport  with  a 
halter  tied  about  his  shoulders.  He  said  he 
was  hunting  stray  horses  and  also  wished  to 
g-et  a  Baptist  minister  to  come  to  Camanche 
and  baptize  himself  and  wife  and  his  brother 
and  several  others  who  had  become  Christians 
in  a  revival  there.  The  man's  name  was  John 
Welch.  Camanche  is  some  thirty-five  miles 
above  Davenport  on  the  Iowa  side  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi river.  I  told  Brother  Welch  I  would 
be  at  Camanche  the  second  Sunday  thereafter 
to  preach,  org-anize  a  Church  and  baptize.  I 
found  there  had  been  no  preaching-  in  the 
place.  But  a  Baptist  family  living-  three  miles 
north  of  Camanche  by  the  name  of  Thomas, 
and  another  by  the  name  of  Root,  living-  back 
of  Albany,  in  Illinois,  and  others  had  held 
relig-ious  meeting's  in  the  place  and  the  revival 
was  the  result.  I  organized  a  Church  and 
baptized  eig-ht,  and  there  was  joy  in  Camanche. 
Althoug-h  I  was  pastor  of  the  Davenport  and 


178 

Rock  Island  CluirchL's,  I  looked  after  the  wel- 
fare of  the  new  interest  at  Camanche.  The 
last  person  I  baptized  into  the  Church  was  a 
youno-  woman,  in  June,  1844,  by  the  name  of 
Clayburn.  Her  home  was  near  Brother  Thom- 
as, three  miles  north  of  Camanche.  1844  was 
a  season  of  hig-h  water.  For  weeks  the  Mis- 
sissippi was  booming-  and  by  reason  of  a  sloutrh 
extendinjj-  from  the  river  above  around  some 
distance  back  and  emptyin<>-  below  the  town, 
Camanche  was  on  an  island  that  summer. 
Miss  Clayburn 's  purpose  to  be  baptized  and 
join  the  Baptist  Church  met  with  the  most  de- 
cided opposition  at  home.  But  when  the  time 
came,  with  the  courag-e  and  determination  of 
a  martyr,  she  took  a  bundle  of  clothes  for  the 
necessary  chang-e  and  started  on  foot  for  Ca- 
manche, and  when  she  came  to  the  sloug-h, 
which  was  neither  narrow  nor  shallow,  she 
held  the  bundle  on  her  head  with  one  hand  and 
went  throug-h,  and  was  cordially  and  loving-ly 
received  and  baptized.  A  few  years  ag'o  she 
died  in  Oakland,  California,  a  faithful  follower 
of  Christ. 

I  love  to  think  of  those  early  days  in  Iowa. 
I  love  to  cherish  the  memory  of  those  dear 
brethren  and  sisters,  who,  amid  discourag-e- 
ment,  sowed  the  g-ood  seed  in  Camanche  which 
has  not  failed  to  the  present  time  to  bring* 
forth  fruit  to  the  praise  and  glory  of  Go-.l. 


Chapter  XVII. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  AUTOBIOGRAPHY  OF  REV. 
PHILLIP  PERRY  BROWN,  WITH  BRIEF 
SKETCHES    OF    HIS   CHILDREN. 


I  was  born  in  Bennington,  Vermont,  Sept- 
ember 17,  1790.  My  father's  name  was  Na- 
thaniel. He  was  born  in  Leicester,  Wooster 
county,  Massachusetts,  November  5,  1767,  and 
died  near  White's  Corners,  in  the  town  of 
Hamburg-,  Erie  county.  New  York,  October  1, 
1854. 

My  mother's  maiden  name  was  Anna  Perry. 
She  was  born  in  Lebanon,  New  London  coun- 
ty, Connecticut,  April  16,  1770,  and  died  in 
Aug-usta,  Oneida  county,  New  York,  March 
20,  1826.  Her  remains  lie  in  the  burying- 
g-round  near  the  stone  school  house  on  the 
"Mile  Strip,"  in  the  present  town  of  Stock- 
bridg-e. 

I  was  the  second  of  eig-ht  children,  five  sons 

[179] 


180 

and  three  daughters,  of  whom  only  two,  be- 
sides myself  are  livinj^-. 

Mv  paternal  orandfather  was  Parley  Brown. 
At  the  outbreaking-  of  the  Revolutionary  war, 
he  was  among-  the  first  to  volunteer — and  with 
a  brother  entered  the  American  army.  Both 
were  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill.  When  our 
forces  were  compelled  to  retire,  his  brother 
having"  been  wounded  and  unable  to  walk,  my 
grandfather  bore  him  on  his  back  in  safety 
from  the  field.  Both  were  larg-e,  strong-,  mus- 
cular men,  w^eig-hing-  nearly  two  hundred 
pounds  each. 

I  do  not  know  whether  he  took  part  in  an}^ 
subsequent  eng-ag-ement,  until  the  battle  of 
White  Plains,  in  which  he  was  killed,  October 
28,  1776. 

My  maternal  g-randfather,  Phillip  Perry, 
from  whom  I  was  named,  served  as  a  Lieuten- 
ant in  the  Revolutionary  war.  He  owned  a 
small  farm  in  Arlington,  Vermont,  and  in 
the  summer  of  1777  obtained  leave  of  absence 
and  returned  home  to  secure  his  crops.  His 
nearest  neig-hbor  was  a  Tory,  Hazard  Wilcox, 
who  became  odious  from  a  well  grounded  sus- 
picion that  he  held  secret  communication  with 
the  enemy.  Between  him  and  Lieutenant 
Perry,  however,  no  differences  had  been  suf- 
fered to  disturb  their  mutual  friendship. 


181 

During-  the  season  they  "chang-ed  work," 
assisting-  each  other  in  harvesting*. 

Thus  they  spent  a  day  in  mowing-  for  Lieu- 
tenant Perry.  Sometime  the  following-  nig-ht 
a  number  of  neig-hbors  came  to  the  house,  and 
calling-  Lieutenant  Perry,  asked  assistance  in 
the  apprehension  of  Wilcox.  Lieutenant 
Perry  declined,  alleging-  the  neig-hborly  friend- 
ship between  himself  and  Wilcox,  and  urged 
that  others  make  the  arrest.  They,  however, 
insisted  that  he  g-o  with  them,  and  knowing- 
Wilcox  oug-ht  to  be  confined  where  he  could 
no  long-er  harm  the  American  cause,  by  inter- 
course with  the  foe.  Lieutenant  Perry  yielded 
reluctantly  to  their  request.  Wilcox  had  been 
by  some  means  warned,  and  with  a  bludgeon 
in  hand  met  the  party  at  the  door,  declaring- 
that  he  would  kill  the  first  man  who  set  foot 
upon  the  door-step.  Lieut.  Perry  stepped 
forward  with  the  remark,  "I  do  not  wish  to 
harm  you,"  when  Wilcox  felled  him  with  a 
blow  across  the  chest.  He  was  carried  into 
the  house,  Wilcox  assisting-,  cared  for  as  well 
as  possible,  and  soon  revived  to  consciousness, 
seeing-  which,  Wilcox  rejoiced,  declaring-  he 
would  not  have  struck  Lieutenant  Perry  had 
he  not  been  enrag-ed.  Lieutenant  Perry  re- 
covered sufficiently  to  walk  two  or  three  times 
across  the  room,  when  he  suddenly  stopped, 
and  with  the  words   "I  am  a  dead  man,"  fell 


182 

lifeless  to  the  floor.  In  the  confusion  Wilcox 
escaped  and  tied  to  the  British  lines. 

A  few  days  afterwards  Mrs.  Wilcox  paid 
Mrs.  Perry  a  friendly  visit.  For  nearly  an 
hour  both  wept  in  silence,  until  at  len<^th  the 
visitor  left  without  a  word  having-  been  spoken, 
by  reason  of  their  mutual  sorrow.  Wilcox 
afterwards  sent  for  his  family,  but  the  neig^h- 
bors  interfered  and  detained  them.  At  leng-th 
he  came  for  them  by  nig-ht,  and  his  neig-hbors 
having-  knowledg-e  of  his  coming-,  armed  and 
met  him  and  at  a  g'iven  sig-nal,  fired,  and  Wil- 
cox paid  with  his  life  the  penalty  for  his 
offense. 

Lieutenant  Perry  left  two  daug-hters,  the 
eldest  of  whom  was  my  mother.  A  few  months 
after,  a  third  was  added.  His  widow  after- 
wards married  a  Mr.  Blair,  of  Benning-ton, 
Vermont,  who  having-  died,  she  subsequently 
married  a  Mr.  Duell,  of  Cambridg-e,  Washing-- 
ton  county.  New  York,  from  which  place  they 
removed  to  Shaftesbury,  Vermont,  where  she 
died. 

This  is  as  far  back  as  I  am  now  able  to  trace 
my  ancestry. 

When  I  was  quite  young-  my  parents  moved 
from  Benning-ton  to  Whitestown,  now  West 
Moreland,  Oneida  county.  New  York.  Here, 
my  father  purchased  a  tract  of  wild  land,  on 
which  the  villag-e  of  Clark's  Mills  now  stands. 


183 

That  section  of  country  was  then  new,  but  be- 
ing- rapidly  settled.  About  a  month  after 
their  arrival,  an  incident  occurred  of  which, 
on  account  of  the  alarm  it  caused  us,  I  still 
retain  a  distinct  recollection. 

The  house  occupied  by  my  father  stood  near 
the  Oriskany  creek.  A  little  east  of  the  house 
was  a  road  throug-h  the  woods  in  a  south- 
easterly direction,  on  which  about  one  hundred 
rods  from  my  father's  lived  a  Mr.  Simeon 
Fillmore,  an  uncle  of  President  Millard  Pill- 
more.  Prom  Pillraore's,  one  road  ran  south 
to  Clinton,  and  another,  through  a  larg-e 
marsh,  to  intersect  the  first  named  road,  half 
a  mile  east  of  father's.  Near  this  point  re- 
sided a  family  named  Barker.  A  few  rods 
west  of  father's  across  the  Oriskany,  lived  a 
Mr.  Stillman.  The  triangular  space  within 
these  three  roads  was  a  dense  forest. 

One  evening-  in  April,  our  family  were 
alarmed  by  a  strang-e  noise,  loud  and  shrill,  a 
wailing-  cry,  kept  up  at  intervals,  apparently 
proceeding-  from  the  swamp.  It  was  evidently 
the  cry  of  a  man  in  distress,  or  the  decoy  of  a 
hung-ry  panther.  The  woods  were  then  full 
of  Indians  and  wild  beasts.  After  listening- 
for  some  time,  father  went  to  Mr.  Stillman's 
and  persuaded  his  son  to  accompany  him  on 
the  hazardous  enterprise  of  ascertaining*  the 
cause  of  the  outcry. 


184 

The  nitrht  was  very  chirk.  One  carried  a 
lantern  and  the  other  an  axe,  the  only  weapon 
in  their  possession.  They  proceeded  to  Fill- 
more's who  with  his  family  had  fastened  their 
house  and  retired  for  the  ni^-ht.  They  had 
heard  the  cry  and  being-  unable  to  determine 
whether  it  proceeded  from  civilized  man,  sav- 
ag-e,  or  wild  beast,  were  greatly  alarmed. 
Fillmore  refused  to  accompany  them  or  even 
to  open  his  door  long-  enoug-h  for  them  to  enter 
his  house. 

The  cry  continued  and  my  father  and  Still- 
man  proceeded  alone.  When  within  about 
twenty  rods  of  the  place  from  which  the  noise 
came,  they  stopped  and  called.  The  cry 
ceased,  but  they  g-ot  no  response.  Standing- 
in  anxious  silence  till  it  was  repeated,  they  ad- 
vanced and  once  more  called.  Ag-ain  it  ceased; 
and  ag-ain  they  stood  till  it  was  resumed;  then 
cautiously  proceeding-,  by  the  dim  lig-ht  of 
their  lantern,  they  described  a  man  lying-  in  a 
pool  of  water.  It  was  he  who  had  made  the 
nig-ht  hideous  wdth  his  outcries.  On  speaking* 
to  him,  he  became  quiet,  but  made  no  reply. 
He  was  too  drunk  to  extricate  himself;  and 
but  for  the  timely  assistance  rendered,  must 
have  perished  in  the  long-,  cold  night.  They 
took  him  to  Mr.  Barker's,  w^here  he  was  kindly 
cared  for. 

During-  this  transaction,  my  mother  was  left 


REV.  PHILLIP  PERRY  BROWN, 


BETSY   DICKEY. 
MRS.  PHILLIP  PERRY  BROWN 


A.    J.   BROWN 


WILBUR    M.    BROWN 


REV.   WILLIAM    BROWN 


PHILLIP  PERRY  BROWN.  JR. 

Colonel  157th  New  York  Infantry,  and  of  7th  Regt.  Hancock's  Veteran  Reserve 

Corps.     Brevt.  Brigadier  General  U.  S.  Volunteers  1  862-  1  865. 


185 

alone  with  two  small  children.  I  still  recol- 
lect that  I  felt  safe  when  I  could  hide  my  face 
under  my  mother's  apron. 

My  father  lived  in  this  vicinity  until  the 
spring-  of  1804,  when  he  removed  to  the  town 
of  Augusta  where  he  purchased  a  tract  of  wild 
land,  about  half  a  mile  east  of  the  present  site 
of  the  "Mile  Strip  School  House,"  the  place 
now  ow^ned  and  occupied  by  a  Mr.  Powers. 
Then  in  my  fourteenth  year,  I  assisted  in 
clearing-  the  land,  for  cultivation. 

My  education,  commenced  at  Whitestown, 
was  continued  in  our  new  home  and  was  con- 
fined to  the  common  school,  in  which  reading-, 
writing-,  spelling-  and  arithmetic  were  taught. 
Althoug-h  I  subsequently  acquired  the  habit 
of  speaking-  extemporaneously  with  consider- 
able g-rammatical  accuracy,  I  never  studied 
g-rammar,  until  the  last  winter  of  my  attend- 
ance, at  which  time  it  was  introduced  into  the 
public  schools. 

Until  their  removal  to  Aug-usta,  my  parents 
trained  their  children  to  a  strict  observance 
of  the  Sabbath;  and  so  far  as  possible,  to  at- 
tendance on  public  w^orship.  Both  were  of 
good  moral  principles;  though  neither  pro- 
fessed religion.  My  mother,  however,  was 
religiously  inclined.  Shortly  after  my  con- 
version,   she   also   obtained    hope.     We   were 


18() 

baptized  on  the  same  day  and  at  the  same 
place. 

On  September  27th,  180*),  I  married  Miss 
Betsy  Dickey  who  was  also  a  resident  of 
Augfusta. 

In  1813  I  removed  to  Smithfield,  near 
Siloam,  and  for  three  years  was  eno-ag-ed  with 
a  partner  (Daniel  Dickey,  Esq.,  my  brother- 
in-law,)  in  supplying-  sand  for  two  g-lass  fac- 
tories near  Peterboro,  furnishing- three  thous- 
and bushels  per  year  washed  and  delivered 
ready  for  use. 

We  procured  the  sand  from  Stockbridg-e 
valley.  While  in  this  occupation  the  battle  of 
Osweg-o  occurred.  That  was  before  the  ag-e 
of  steam  and  teleg-raph;  and  we  knew  nothing* 
of  the  eng-ag-ement  until  several  days  after- 
wards. But  while  shoveling-  sand  one  day,  we 
heard  a  noise  resembling-  distant  thunder. 
The  sky  was  cloudless  and  we  suspected  it  to 
be  the  roar  of  cannon  far  away.  To  satisfy 
ourselves  we  drove  a  wooden  stake  into  the 
gfround;  and  on  applying-  the  ear  to  it,  readily 
recog-nized  the  report  of  distant  artillery. 
For  a  time  the  discharg-es  were  very  rapid; 
but  atleng-th  g-radually  became  less  frequent. 
We  thoug-ht  it  was  the  thunder  of  battle,  and 
several  days  afterward  learned  that  the  battle 
of  Osweg-o  occurred  on  the  very  day  and  hour 
that  we  heard  the  reports,  May  6,  1814.     We 


187 

were  distant  from  Osweg-o  about  fifty-five 
miles.  In  October,  1814,  when  great  alarm 
was  felt  for  the  safety  of  Sackets  Harbor,  and 
laro-e  numbers  of  the  Militia  were  called  out 
to  assist  in  its  defense,  I  with  many  of  my 
neighbors  was  summoned,  and  answered  the 
call.  I  was  soon  taken  sick,  however,  and  as 
the  only  means  of  saving-  my  life,  was  per- 
mitted by  General  Cleveland  to  return  home. 

Having-  been  broug-ht  up  a  farmer,  on  the 
fulfillment  of  the  sand  contract  referred  to,  I 
resumed  that  pursuit  in  the  vicinity  of  my 
new  home,  and  continued  it  several  years. 

In  the  summer  of  1811,  at  a  time  when  there 
was  no  special  religious  awakening-  my  mind 
became  much  affected  and  very  tender  in  view 
of  ray  hopeless  condition  as  a  sinner.  What 
circumstances  or  human  instrumentality  led 
to  this  solicitude  I  do  not  now  remember.  I 
felt  a  strong-  conviction  that  the  appointed 
time  had  come  to  carry  out  my  long-  cherished 
intention  to  seek  Christ  and  secure  the  salva- 
tion of  my  soul. 

At  the  ag-e  of  twenty-one  I  found  hope  in  the 
mercy  of  the  Saviour.  I  had  always  from  my 
childhood  intended  to  become  a  Christian, 
whenever  I  should  find  what  I  raig-ht  esteem  a 
favorable  time. 

The  exceeding-  preciousness  of  the  g-ospel 
and  the  nearness  of  God  inflamed  my  soul  with 


188 

a  holy  love.  Hence  arose  my  impression  of 
duty  to  publish  the  gfospel  to  my  fellow  men. 
The  love  of  Christ  constrained  me. 

On  the  29th  of  September,  1811,  I  was  bap- 
tized by  Elder  Salmon  Morton  into  the  fellow- 
ship of  the  Baptist  Church  in  Madison.  My 
mother  and  Mrs  Polly  Howard  (wife  of 
Charles  Howard)  were  baptized  on  the  same 
occasion.  I  had  not  yet  disclosed  to  any  per- 
son my  conviction  of  duty  to  enter  the  min- 
istry. After  my  removal  to  Smithfield  I 
lived  a  number  of  years  in  a  state  of  relig^ious 
torpidity,  "cold,"  backward,  "in  the  dark," 
and  in  general  neglect  of  religious  duties. 
Occasionally,  however,  a  few  rays  of  divine 
light  and  comfort  would  be  shed  abroad  in  my 
soul.  At  such  times  my  mind  would  be  deep- 
ly exercised  with  a  sense  of  duty  to  preach 
the  gospel  to  my  fellow  men.  Always  refus- 
ing to  comply  with  this  conviction  of  duty,  re- 
ligious gloom  and  depression  would  invariably 
succeed. 

I  sought  pardon  and  peace  in  vain.  I  prom- 
ised the  Lord,  that  if  he  would  restore  to  me 
the  light  of  his  countenance,  I  would  no  longer 
refuse,  if  it  were  His  will  that  I  should  preach. 
In  response  the  conviction  became  fastened 
on  my  mind  and  remained  constantly  there, 
that  I  had  departed  from  my  duty  without 
leave,  and  it  was  good  enough  for  me  to  return 


189 

without  help.  One  evening"  on  my  way  home 
from  meeting-,  while  reflecting-  on  my  spiritual 
state,  I  resolved  in  my  heart  that  without 
waiting-  long-er  I  would  commence  preaching-  at 
the  first  opportunity  which  should  occur.  The 
duty  was  so  plain  to  my  mind,  and  I  had  al- 
ready neg-lected  it  so  long-  with  the  vain  hope 
of  recovering-  lost  graces  before  making  the 
attempt,  I  would  delay  no  long-er,  but  casting- 
myself  on  God,  would  do  his  bidding-  to  the 
best  of  my  ability.  No  sooner  was  this  reso- 
lution fairly  formed  than  my  spiritual  dark- 
ness was  dissipated  and  my  soul  once  more 
became  unclouded  and  joyful.  With  submis- 
sion I  had  recovered  the  long-  sought  light  and 
peace.  My  wife  had  already  been  converted 
in  a  revival,  and  on  the  following-  Sabbath, 
February  27,  1820,  was  baptized  by  Elder 
Dyer  D.  Ransom.  In  the  evening-  of  the  same 
day,  a  conference  meeting-  was  held  at  the 
house  of  Mr.  Parkhurst  in  Siloam  Before  it 
commenced,  Deacon  Sloan  took  me  aside,  told 
me  that  he  was  convinced  that  it  was  my  duty 
to  preach,  and  urg-ed  me  to  make  trial  of  my 
g-ift  that  evening-.  I  dared  not  refuse,  though 
it  was  with  great  reluctance  and  trembling- 
that  I  consented.  The  house  was  crowded. 
After  a  few  explanatory  remarks  by  Deacon 
Sloan,  I  read  my  text  "I  also  will  show  mine 


190 

opinion,"  Job  32:  10,  and  preached  as  well  as 
I  could. 

Elder  Ransom  was  then  eng-aj^ed  as  pastor 
of  the  Church,  to  preach  to  them  every  other 
Sabbath  for  one  year.  The  Church  subse- 
quently approved  my  ofift,  and  still  later  voted 
me  a  letter  of  license  to  preach  the  <^ospel 
wherever  an  opportunity  occurred,  at  the 
same  time  inviting-  me  to  preach  to  them  on 
such  Sabbaths  as  Elder  Ransom  was  not  with 
them,  to  which  I  acceeded.  On  the  expiration 
of  Elder  Ransom's  term  of  service,  I  was 
chosen  his  successor,  to  preach  every  Sab- 
bath. I  continued  to  labor  here  for  more  than 
eig"ht  years.  My  salary,  on  paper,  rang-ed 
from  S35.00  to  $75.00  per  annum;  but  I  never 
in  any  one  year  received  more  than  SIO.OO  in 
money. 

Of  late  years  my  wife  has  frequently  stated 
that  for  one  year's  service  all  I  received  was  a 
quarter  of  mutton;  but  this,  if  a  fact,  has 
long-  since  passed  from  recollection. 

So  much  of  the  balance  as  was  ever  paid  was 
rendered  in  produce. 

At  the  commencement  of  my  labors  with 
this  Church,  my  family  consisted  of  four  child- 
ren, which  number  was  increased  to  seven  be- 
fore I  left.  These  I  was  compelled  to  support 
mainly  by  manual  labor.  To  do  this,  required 
my  utmost  exertions  throug-h  the  week,  leav- 


191 

ing-  but  little  time  for  study  or  pastoral  duties. 
While  at  work  I  would  think  over  the  sub- 
stance of  m}^  sermons  for  the  following-  Sab- 
bath; and  at  evening-,  frequently  by  the  lig-ht 
of  a  pine  knot  torch,  would  eng-ag-e  in  the 
study  of  the  Scriptures. 

In  the  autumn  of  1821  I  received  ordination. 
The  Council  was  larg-e  for  those  times,  and 
consisted  of  eig-ht  ministers,  and  deleg-ates 
from  seven  Churches.  The  ministers  in  at- 
tendance were:  Nathaniel  Cole,  Moderator; 
Frederick  Freeman,  Clerk;  Obed  Warren, 
Dyer  D.  Ransom,  Calvin  Philho,  Randolph 
Streeter,  Nathaniel  Otis  and  Nathan  Peck. 
The  last  named  subsequently  fell  from  the 
ministry.  The  Council  convened  October  17, 
at  the  house  of  Amos  Bridg-e.  After  the 
usual  manner  I  related  my  Christian  exper- 
ience, my  spiritual  exercises  in  reference  to 
preaching-  the  g-ospel,  and  my  views  of  Scrip- 
ture doctrine.  About  an  hour  after  Council 
had  retired  for  a  private  session,  the  Moder- 
ator came  to  me  with  a  request  that  I  would 
preach  before  the  Council;  adding-  that  one 
member  of  it,  Elder  Phillio,  declined  to  ac- 
quiesce in  my  ordination  unless  he  could  first 
hear  me.  This  was  soon  after  the  "School  of 
the  Prophets,"  now  Madison  University,  had 
been  instituted  at  Hamilton;  and  Elder  Phillio 
was  an  earnest  advocate  of  Ministerial  Educa- 


102 

tion.  His  objections  to  my  ordination  were 
said  to  arise  from  his  fears  that  I,  having-  but 
a  common  school  education,  mi<jfht  be  too  illit- 
erate to  preach.  Most  of  the  Council  had  al- 
ready heard  me  preach,  but  he  had  not.  The 
Moderator  and  other  friends  advised  me  to 
comply  with  the  request  and  make  the  attempt 
at  once.  I  consented.  They  g-ranted  me  fif- 
teen minutes  in  which  to  prepare.  I  walked 
in  meditation  into  a  field  as  far  as  I  could  g-o 
in  half  the  time,  and  then  returned.  The 
house  was  full  of  people.  I  announced  for 
my  text  the  words  of  the  Saviour,  "Behold, 
I  send  you  forth  as  lambs  among-  wolves." 
Luke  10:  3.  The  announcement  of  the  text 
called  a  smile  to  the  countenance  of  many  of 
the  audience,  especially  of  the  ministers  pres- 
ent. I  spoke:  First.  Of  the  helplessness  of 
the  ministry,  "as  lambs."  Second.  Their 
dang-ers;  ''among-  wolves;"  arising-,  first,  from 
foes  without  the  fold;  and  second,  from  false 
brethren  within  the  fold.  Third.  The  en- 
courag-ement  received  from  the  Great  Shep- 
herd. This  subject  arose  entirely  new  in  my 
mind  after  I  had  consented  to  preach.  The 
Council  afterwards  unanimously  agreed  to 
proceed  to  ordination.  The  services  were 
held  on  the  following-  day  in  the  meeting-  house 
at  Siloam,  then  in  an  unfinished  condition; 
Elder  Nathaniel  Cole  preached  from  the  words 


193 

"Let  a  man  so  account  of  us  as  of  the  minis- 
ters of  Christ,  and  stewards  of  the  mysteries 
of  God."    I  Cor.  4:  1. 

A  few  weeks  after,  I  chanced  to  meet  Elder 
Phillio  at  a  Ministerial  Conference  in  Penner. 
After  I  had  preached  there  also,  he  remarked 
to  me,  "Well,  brother  Brown,  I  think  you  will 
be  able  to  preach,  Let  me  give  you  a  word  of 
advice.  Never  attempt  to  say  all  you  can  on 
any  subject  at  any  one  time;  and  when  you  get 
throug-h,  always  stop."  These  hints  were 
beneficial  to  me  in  subsequent  years;  and 
might  be  observed  wnth  benefit  by  some  in  the 
ministry  at  the  present  day. 

Not  long  afterwards  the  meeting  house  at 
Siloam  was  completed.  It  consisted  only  of 
an  audience  room  without  vestibule  or  galler- 
ies, thirty  by  forty  feet,  closely  seated;  and 
during  my  continuance  as  pastor  there,  was 
generally  well  filled  with  hearers  on  the 
Sabbath. 

I  had  no  theological  instructor,  no  library 
save  a  Bible,  a  Watt's  Hymn  Book,  and  a 
pocket  edition  of  Brown's  Concordance.  With 
these  simple  aids  I  spent  the  next  two  years 
in  studying  the  Scriptures  and  committing 
them  to  memory.  In  doing  this,  I  so  far  neg- 
lected secular  pursuits  that,  wnth  my  very  in- 
adequate salary,  I  expended  nearly  all  my  per- 
sonal property,  including  my  only  cow^  and  a 


V 


span  of  horses,  in  tlie  support  of  my   family. 

At  leno-th  I  was  aroused  as  from  an  enchant- 
ment, to  a  sense  of  the  condition  of  mv  family, 
and  hired  myself  to  one  of  the  deacons  of  the 
Church,  to  assist  in  carpenter  work,  for  sev- 
enty-live cents  per  day.  I  labored  for  him 
thirty  days,  in  which  time  I  mastered  the 
rudiments  of  the  trade  sufficiently  to  com- 
mence the  business  as  a  workman.  While  I 
remained  here,  about  six  years,  I  labored  at 
this  trade  through  the  summer  seasons,  build- 
ing- barns,  houses  and  mills.  Three  winters  I 
took  charge  of  a  saw  mill;  the  other  winters  I 
chopped  and  drew  wood  to  market,  boiled  pot- 
ash, etc.,  preaching  every  Sabbath.  My  labors 
were  very  severe;  I  had  no  rest  except  occas- 
sionally  on  a  stormy  day.  Sabbaths  were  the 
most  laborious  and  fatiguing  of  all. 

During  my  stay  with  these  people  I  attended 
many  funerals  to  which  I  frequently  traveled 
five  or  six  miles  on  foot,  sometimes  going  di- 
rectly from  my  work,  and  returning  to  it  again 
the  same  day.  As  these  services  were  never 
rewarded,  they  only  increased  my  pecuniary 
embarrassments. 

Duri.ng  this  pastorate  the  Church  and  com- 
munity were  blest  with  only  one  general  re- 
vival of  religion.  I  preserved  no  record  of  my 
labors  or  their  results  while  there,  and  can 
now  give  but  few  items  from  memory.     Dur- 


195 

inof  the  six  years  that  I  remained  after  I  was 
ordained  the  pastor,  I  baptized  sixty  or  more 
persons.  Universalism  and  drunkenness  pre- 
vailed there  to  a  great  extent,  making-  the  field 
peculiarly  hard  for  spiritual  culture,  and  ren- 
dering* my  labors  almost  as  barren  of  moral 
as  of  financial  fruits. 

My  third  son,  William,  was  converted  and 
baptized  at  the  age  of  ten  years.  He  subse- 
quently entered  the  ministry,  in  which  his 
labors  have  been  crowned  with  many  blessings 
and  tokens  of  the  Master's  approval. 

Early  in  1831  I  took  him  to  the  Literary  and 
Theological  Institution  at  Hamilton,  to  be  ed- 
ucated for  the  ministry,  and,  as  was  supposed 
for  the  work  of  a  foreign  missionary.  He  was 
my  only  child  then  converted.  Deacon  Olm- 
sted adopted  him  into  his  family  as  a  bene- 
ficiary and  protege  during  his  educational 
course.  To  give  him  up  caused  me  a  severe 
struggle.  When  I  had  taken  him  there,  and 
was  returning  home,  my  mind  was  so  deeply 
absorbed  in  reflection  on  the  subject,  as  to  be 
almost  wholly  insensible  to  everything  else. 
I  earnestly  longed  and  prayed  that  God  would 
give  me  another  of  my  children  born  anew  into 
the  kingdom  of  grace,  to  take  his  place.  To 
the  praise  of  the  riches  of  His  grace,  I  have 
to  record  that  within  six  months  he  gave  me 


three,  and  still  others  before  I  removed  from 
the  town. 

The  revival  spirit  at  no  time  f(-r.-^v)ok  us, 
conversions  bein^r  frequent;  and  ai)out  1833, 
another  considerable  revival  occurred.  Dur- 
int)-  the  first  five  \'ears  of  this  pastorate,  I 
baptized  one  hundred  and  twenty-six,  most 
of  whom  had  been  converted  under  my 
ministry. 

During-  this  pastorate  of  seven  years,  and 
the  five  vears  next  following-,  besides  dis- 
charg-ing-  my  pastoral  duties  I  labored  in  sev- 
enty or  eig-hty  protracted  meeting-s.  In  these 
meeting's  m}^  labors  extended  from  Albany  to 
Cayug-a  Lake,  and  from  the  northern  bound- 
ary of  Oneida  county  to  central  Pennsylvania. 

The  young-est  person  converted,  of  whom  I 
had  any  knowledg-e  was  my  son  Perry,  then 
in  his  eigfhth  year-  The  chief  instrument  of 
his  conversion  was  a  pious  lady  school  teacher. 
He  was  so  small  as  to  find  it  necessary  to 
stand  on  a  seat  or  bench  while  he  related  his 
experience  to  the  Church  a  few  months  after- 
wards. The  conversion  of  children,  now  so 
common,  was  then  a  rare  event,  and  g-enerally 
reg-arded  with  a  degree  of  distrust  bordering- 
on  incredulity.  Owing  to  his  youthfulness 
both  his  mother  and  I  were  reluctant  to  con- 
sent to  his  baptism.  On  many  occasions  he 
manifested  an  earnest  wish  to  receive  the  or- 


197 

dinance.  On  returning-  from  school  one  day, 
he  said,  "Mother,  when  you  will  let  me  be 
baptized,  my  mind  will  be  easy."  We  inter- 
posed no  further  objections.  Not  long-  after 
this  he  related  his  experience  before  the 
Church  for  baptism.  I  subjected  him,  in  their 
presence,  to  a  ri^id  examination.  Among- 
other  questions,  I  asked: 

"Why  do  you  want  to  be  baptized?" 

"Because  Christ  was  baptized,  and  I  want 
to  follow  him,"  was  his  reply. 

"Would  you  not  rather  be  sprinkled,  than 
g-o  into  the  water?" 

"No  sir.  The  Saviour  was  baptized  in  the 
river,  and  I  want  to  do  as  he  did." 

These  and  many  similar  replies  were  wholly 
of  his  own  mind.  All  my  objections  were  re- 
moved; and  the  Church  received  and  I  bap- 
tized him. 

During-  my  pastorate  at  Augusta,  one  win- 
try day,  brother  Eden  Green,  whom  I  had 
baptized  from  the  Cong-reg-ational  Church, 
and  my  son  Perry,  were  removing-  ice  from 
the  stream  preparatory  for  baptism,  when 
Rensselaer  Wickham,  a  rather  eccentric, 
quick-spoken  man,  a  member  of  the  Cong-re- 
g-ational Church,  chanced  to  pass  the  place, 
and  beg-an  some  trifling-  raillery  on  their  em- 
ployment, inquiring-  if  John  had  to  cut  the  ice 
from  Jordan,  etc.     They,  in  turn,   asked  for 


198 

his  Scripture  proofs  of  infant  baptism.  "Well, 
said  he,  in  his  sputtering-  manner  of  speech, 
"I  don't  know  as  there  are  any;  but  it  does 
seem  as  if  the  poor  little  thintrs  outrht  to  have 
something-  done  for  'em." 

In  June,  1853,  failing-  health  compelled  me 
reluctantly  to  retire  from  the  active  duties 
of  the  ministry.  I  therefore  resig-ned  my 
charg-e,  and  removed  my  family,  now  consist- 
ing- of  myself  and  wife,  to  Clinton,  where  I 
had  a  son-in-law  residing-. 

I  still  continued  to  preach  occasionally  as 
circumstances  required,  and  my  health  en- 
abled me. 

In  the  following-  February  I  removed  to 
Madison,  my  former  home,  and  purchased  a 
house  and  a  few  acres  of  land,  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  which  I  spent  most  of  my  time  for  sev- 
eral years. 

While  living-  here  I  preached  for  a  few 
months  as  supply  to  the  Church  in  Aug-usta, 
now  reduced  to  a  small  and  feeble  band.  This 
was  the  last  reg-ular  preaching*  they  ever  had, 
and  not  long-  afterwards  the  Church  formally 
disbanded. 

Two  years  after  my  removal  to  Madison  I 
sold  my  place  there  and  w^ent  to  Hamilton, 
where  my  son  Perry  was  living-.  (Profes- 
sor P.  P.  Brown,  Jr.,  Madison  University), 
with   whom   I    boug-ht  and    occupied  a   home. 


199 

While  living-  here  I  supplied  the  Church  in 
Erieville  for  eleven  months,  at  which  place 
with  my  wife  I  spent  the  winter  of  1856-7. 

In  the  spring-  of  1858  I  was  recalled  to  Mad- 
ison, after  the  resignation  of  Rev.  L.  C.  Bates, 
and  for  the  second  time  accepted  the  pastoral 
care  of  the  Church  which  I  retained  for  three 
years,  when  under  the  accumulated  infirmi- 
ties of  ag-e  and  disease — having-  now  reached 
my  seventieth  year — on  the  first  of  March, 
1860,  I  was  succeeded  by  my  son-in-law.  Rev. 
Carlos  Swift,  in  whose  family  we  spent  the 
following-  summer,  in  the  old  parsonage  which 
had  twice  been  our  home.  I  finished  my  sec- 
ond pastorate  in  Madison  just  forty  years 
from  the  day  I  preached  my  first  sermon,  and 
preached  my  last  farewell — the  closing-  up  of 
my  ministerial  life— from  the  same  text  I  used 
on  that  occasion. 

During-  this  summer  I  preached  two  or  three 
months  to  the  Church  in  Stockbridge.  The 
first  of  October  following-,  I  returned  to  Ham- 
ilton, and  ag-ain  lived  in  the  house  which  I 
jointly  owned  and  occupied  with  my  son 
Perry.  Here,  eig-hteen  months  later,  on  April 
2,  1862,  my  wife,  after  a  very  painful  but  brief 
illness  of  two  weeks,  ended  a  laborious,  self- 
denying-,  exemplary  and  useful  life.  We  had 
traveled  life's  journey  pleasantly  tog-ether  for 
fifty-two   years.      On    the   following-   Sunday, 


200 

the  sixth,  her  funeral  was  attended  in  Madi- 
son, whither  we  carried  her  remains.  The 
sermon  was  by  Professor  E.  DodiJfe,  of  Madi- 
son University,  from  Heb.  4:').  (Now,  March 
^),  1872,  and  for  some  time  past,  President  of 
the  University).  We  buried  her  in  the  grave- 
yard on  the  "Indian  Opening-,"  near  the  for- 
mer site  of  the  old  Baptist  meeting-house,  be- 
tween Madison  and  Solsville,  where  sleep 
many  of  the  friends  and  associates  of  our  early 
years,  and  where  I  wish  my  own  dust  at  last 
to  be  laid. 

CHILDREN    OF    REV.    PHILLIP    PERRY    AND 
BETSY    DICKEY    BROWN. 

Ha r ley  Philander':  was  born  in  Augusta, 
July  26,  1810;  was  twice  married,  and  died  at 
Rapids  City,  Illinois,  May  31,  1863.  A  few 
years  before  his  death  he  was  hopefully  con- 
verted and  closed  his  life  as  an  exemplary  and 
highly  esteemed  minister  of  a  Campbellite 
Church. 

Charles  Edzviyi:  was  born  at  Augusta,  Feb- 
ruary 23,  1813.  (His  life  is  given  in  an  auto- 
biography in  this  book.) 

William:  was  born  in  Smithfield,  January  1, 
1816. 

He  became  a  Christian  in  childhood  and 
went,  when  fourteen  years  of  age,  to  Hamilton 


201 

to  attend  the  Literary  and  Theolog-ical  Insti- 
tute, becoming-  a  member  of  the  family  of  Dea- 
con Olmsted,  where  he  was  boarded  for  such 
service  as  he  could  give,  out  of  school  hours. 

Evenings,  studying-  his  lesson  in  Greek,  his 
position  was  "sixth  from  the  candle." 

His  mother  said  of  him,  "William  was  al- 
ways a  g-ood  boy." 

He  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  in  1837, 
and  offered  his  services  as  a  foreig-n  mission- 
ary, but  for  want  of  funds  in  the  treasury  of 
the  missionary  board,  was  not  sent. 

His  life  work  was  as  pastor  of  Baptist 
Churches  in  New  York — in  Richfield,  New- 
port, Eaton,  Pittsford,  Hartford,  St.  Edward 
and  Rockwood,  from  1837  to  1869. 

In  1837  he  was  married  to  Miss  Louisa  E. 
Wrig-ht,  at  Westford. 

In  1869  his  health  failed  and  he  g-ave  up  his 
pastoral  work  and  started  west  in  the  hope  of 
reg-aining-  it.  Stopping-  at  New  Hartford  with 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  Griswold,  old  time  friends,  he 
suddenly  became  worse  and  died  Aug-ust  9, 
1869,  and  was  buried  at  Newport. 

He  was  a  man  of  superior  ability  as  a  min- 
ister, of  a  g-enial,  kindly  and  sociable  disposi- 
tion; beautifully  sincere  and  earnest  in  his 
work,  and  was  remarkably  successful  in  re- 
storing- harmony  and  reuniting*  Churches  in 
which  discord  and  dissention  had  arisen. 


202 

Of  four  children,  two  sons  and  two  daiij^fh- 
ters,  two  are  livin<i|-,  at  present,  1%7.  Mrs. 
Lewis  E.  (Turley,  at  Troy,  New  York,  and 
Mrs.  Frank  H.  Woodworth,  at  San  Dieg-o, 
California. 

Phillip  Perry  Brozun,  Jr.  Sketch  of  his  life, 
from  an  Obituary,  published  in  a  St.  Louis 
paper  at  the  time  of  his  death  in  that  city  in 
April,  1881. 

*'The  Second  Baptist  Church  of  St.  Louis, 
has  met  with  a  great  loss  in  the  recent  death 
of  General  Brown.  Born  in  Smithiield,  New 
York,  October  8,  1823,  reared  in  a  Christian 
home,  at  the  ag-e  of  eig-ht  years  he  was  bap- 
tized into  the  fellowship  of  the  Baptist  church, 
by  his  honored  father,  Rev.  P.  P.  Brown,  so 
well  remembered  in  Central  New  York.  In 
the  covenant  meeting-  preceding-  his  death, 
General  Brown  rose  and  with  much  feeling- 
said,  "This  is  my  jubilee;  for  fifty  years  I 
have  been  a  member  of  a  Baptist  church,  and 
can  remember  no  life  outside  of  it." 

At  an  early  ag-e  he  eng-ag-ed  in  teaching-  in 
his  native  State,  but  his  health  failing-,  he 
went  to  Kentucky,  where  he  soon  recovered 
his  health  and  resumed  his  profession.  In 
December,  1845,  he  married  Miss  Sarah  Jack- 
son, of  Louisville,  Kentucky,  who  with  two 
children  survives  him.  Soon  after  his  mar- 
riag-e  he  went  to  the  Indian  Territory,  under 


203 
the  auspices  of  the  Southern  Indian  Mission 
Board,  and  took  charg-e  of  Armstrong-  Acad- 
emy, a  school  for  the  Choctaws.  For  five 
years  he  labored  with  g-reat  success  as  teach- 
er and  missionary,  and  translated  the  greater 
part  of  the  New  Testament  into  the  Choctaw 
lang-uage.  These  were  years  of  joy  to  his 
heart,  and  many  were  broug-ht  to  Christ 
throug-h  his  efforts.  In  April,  1851,  he  re- 
sig-ned  and  accepted  the  Principalship  of  the 
Preparatory  Department  of  Shurtleff  Colleg-e, 
Alton,  Illinois,  in  order  that  he  mig-ht  at  the 
same  time  pursue  his  studies  in  the  Colleg-e, 
and  then  return  to  the  Indians  better  fitted  for 
his  work.  But  his  wish  was  not  realized,  for 
in  May,  1853,  he  returned  to  New  York  and 
entered  Madison  University  in  the  third  term 
of  Sophomore  year,  at  the  same  time  contin- 
uing- his  work  as  teacher  in  the  Grammar 
School. 

He  g-raduated  in  1855  and  was  principal  of 
the  University  Grammar  school  until  Aug-ust, 
1862,  when  he  became  Colonel  of  the  One  Hun- 
dred and  Fifty-seventh  New  York  Infantry. 
He  commanded  his  regiment  at  Gettysburg-, 
in  the  First  Brig-ade,  Third  Division,  Eleventh 
Army  Corps,  under  Major  General  Carl 
Schurz,  the  first  day,  and  Major  General  O. 
O.  Howard,  the  second  and  third  days  of  the 
battle. 


204 

In  18()5  he  was  appointed  Colonel  of  the 
Seventh  Reo^iment  of  Hancock's  Veteran  Re- 
serve Corps,  and  commanded  the  Military 
Post  at  Philadelphia.  He  was  breveted  Bri*^^- 
adier  General,  for  gallant  and  meritorious  ser- 
vices and  tendered  an  appointment  as  Colonel 
in  the  Regular  Army  at  the  close  of  the  war. 
This  he  declined,  preferring-  the  pursuits  of 
civil  life,  and  in  1866  he  came  to  Saint  Louis 
and  engaged  in  business. 

General  Brown  was  an  accurate  scholar  and 
a  deep  thinker.  Thoroughly  rooted  in  the 
truths  of  the  gospel,  it  was  his  constant  aim 
to  exemplify  them  in  his  life.  He  was  pre- 
eminently a  pure  man,  no  unchaste  word  ever 
escaping  his  lips.  He  carried  into  mature 
years  the  sweet  sincerity  of  childhood,  and  his 
whole  deportment  w^as  that  of  a  Christian  gen- 
tleman. It  was  his  special  work  to  labor  for 
the  good  of  young  men,  of  whom  he  was  par- 
ticularly fond,  and  who  returned  his  affection 
with  their  fullest  confidence.  Por  years  he 
stood  in  the  vestibule  of  the  Second  church 
that  he  might  welcome  young  men  who  were 
strangers  in  the  city,  and  make  them  feel  at 
home  in  God's  house,  and  many  such  have  been 
brought  to  Christ  and  saved  from  the  perils 
of  a  great  city  by  his  kind,  w^ise  counsel.  In 
every  department  of  church  work  he  was  an 
efficient  helper  and  counsellor. 


205 

Thoug-h  firmly  trusting-  in  Christ  as  a  per- 
sonal Saviour,  the  fear  of  death  at  times 
greatly  troubled  him;  but  as  he  entered  the 
valley  of  the  shadow,  to  his  pastor  he  said: 
"All  fear  of  death  is  o-one;  the  way  is  brig-ht; 
I  am  happy."  Two  hours  later  he  fell  quietly 
asleep  in  Jesus. 

Into  the  church,  where  his  presence  had  so 
long-  been  a  benediction,  his  remains  were 
borne  by  the  strong-  arms  of  young-  men  whom 
he  loved  and  who  loved  him,  on  Sunday  after- 
noon, April  10th,  and  appropriate  services 
were  conducted  by  Dr.  Schofield  and  the  pas- 
tor, in  the  presence  of  a  larg-e  and  tearful  as- 
sembly. We  laid  his  body  to  rest  in  the  beau- 
tiful city  of  the  dead,  where  soon  a  monument 
to  his  memory  will  be  erected  by  the  young- 
men  of  the  Second  Church." 

Adonircui  Judson  Brozvu'.  was  born  in  Smith- 
field,  March  7,  1826.  In  1845  he  came  to  Iowa, 
joining-  his  brother  Charles,  at  LeClaire.  He 
beg-an  teaching-  school  when  sixteen  years  of 
ag-e,  in  New  York,  and  taug-ht  in  Iowa  three 
years  when  he  first  came  west.  He  owned 
and  operated  the  ferry  across  the  Mississippi 
between  LeClaire  and  Port  Byron,  beg-inning- 
with  a  flat  boat  which  had  to  be  rowed  by  hand 
until  a  horse  power  boat  could  be  built. 

While   teachino-,    one    of    his    scholars    was 


200 

ISIiss  Paulina  Rowe,  a  ver\'  l)ri<4ht,  handsome 
and  attractive  little  woman,  who  became  his 
wife  in  1847. 

In  1S50  he  put  up  a  l)uildin*^-  in  Port  Byron 
near  the  ferry  landini^f,  and  opened  a  small 
store.  Later  he  and  William  H.  Devore 
formed  a  partnership  under  the  firm  name  of 
Brown  and  Devore,  doino^  a  general  mercan- 
tile business,  on  quite  a  lar«-e  scale,  operating" 
a  flouring-  mill,  packing  pork,  and  handling- 
coal  for  the  Mississippi  river  steam-boats. 
They  did  a  large  business,  furnishing-  sup- 
plies for  Minnesota  and  Wisconsin  lumber- 
men on  the  upper  Mississippi  and  tributaries. 

He  w^as  a  very  capable  business  man,  indus- 
trious, methodical  and  systematic,  of  hig-h 
character.  What  he  said  could  always  be  de- 
pended on.  Brow^n  and  Devore  carried  on  a 
successful,  prosperous  business  w^hile  others 
failed.  Mr.  Brown  was  a  good  neighbor,  kind 
and  obliging,  a  public  spirited  citizen,  and  a 
model  husband  and  father.  He  contracted 
consumption  and  died  at  Port  Byron,  Illinois, 
February  11,  1864. 

Wilbur  Mission  Broxvn:  was  born  in  Au- 
gusta, July  2,  1833.  Educated  at  Madison 
University,  Hamilton,  New  York,  graduating- 
in  1856.  Read  law  with  Goodwin  and  Mitchell 
at  Hamilton  and  later  wnth  Pratt  and  Mitchell 


207 

at  Syracuse,  becoming-  a  member  of  the  firm 
of  Pratt,  Mitchell  and  Brown,  who  were  for 
many  years  prominent  and  leading-  lawyers 
of  Central  New  York.  He  was  a  fine  speaker. 
Close  attention  to  business  undermined  his 
health  and  he  was  an  invalid  for  years  before 
his  death,  w^hich  occurred  at  Syracuse,  Jan- 
uary 27,  1898,  unmarried,  leaving-  property  to 
the  amount  of  nearly  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars  to  his  relatives  and  friends.  He  was 
a  man  of  superior  ability,  a  tireless  worker, 
genial,  kindly,  g-enerous  and  sociable,  stand- 
ing- hig-h  in  his  profession,  of  high  character 
personally  and  professionally. 

Sarah:  w^as  born  in  Smithfield,  May  30,  1818. 
She  was  married,  February  10,  1841,  at  Mad- 
ison, New  York,  to  Emerson  Brown,  of  Litch- 
field. Thoug-h  of  the  same  name,  her  husband 
was  not  related  to  our  family.  For  nine  years 
after  marriag-e  her  husband  lived  in  Utica, 
working-  at  his  trade  as  a  mason.  They  then 
went  to  Litchfield,  and  boug-ht  the  old  family 
homestead,  where  she  passed  the  remainder 
of  her  life,  and  died  October  2,  1879.  She  was 
an  earnest  devoted  Christian  woman,  a  faith- 
ful Church  worker,  and  a  loving-  wife,  mother 
and  home  maker. 

An7i:  was  born  in  Smithfield,  October  22, 
1820.  She  was  married  to  Dr.  A.  K.  White, 
of  Smyrna,  who  died  a  year  later. 


208 

She  went  to  Kentucky  as  a  teacher,  and  in 
1850  was  married  to  William  Kelly,  of  Hop- 
kinsville,  a  Kentucky  ])lanter,  who  died  Jan- 
uary 3,  1864,  leaving-  her  for  the  second  time 
a  widow  and  childless. 

Mr.  Kelly  was  a  slave  holder  of  the  Shelby- 
St.  Clare  type  described  by  Mrs.  Stowe  in 
Uncle  Tom's  Cabin.  With  his  wnfe  he  visited 
her  familv  in  New  York  State  in  1853.  These 
relatives  were  nearly  all  radical  Abolitionists, 
and  an  actual  livinof  and  breathino-  owner  and 
holder  of  slaves,  was  to  them  something-  ab- 
horrent. But  Mr.  Kelly's  g-enial,  courtly 
manner  disarmed  hostility  and  made  admiring- 
friends  of  the  members  of  the  family  whom  he 
met.  Mrs.  Kelly  was  a  very  capable,  accomp- 
lished woman  She  died  at  the  home  of  her 
brother,  Charles,  at  Lime  Spring's,  Iowa,  in 
1871. 

Elvira:  was  born  at  Smithfield,  December  3, 
1829.  On  January  6,  1852,  she  was  married 
at  Holland  Patent,  New  York,  to  the  Rev. 
Carlos  Swnft,  for  many  years  a  successful  and 
worthy  pastor  of  Baptist  Churches  in  New 
York,  Minnesota  and  Illinois. 

Mrs.  Swift  was  a  zealous,  earnest  and  de- 
voted missionary  worker,  g-ifted  with  a  fine 
intellect,  a  winning-  personalty  and  a  pleasing- 
voice;  for  many  years  Corresponding-  Secre- 


209 

tary  of  the  Women's  Baptist  Home  Mission-, 
ary    Society,  and    was  active   and   helpful  in 
establishing-   the  Women's    Baptist  Training- 
School  in  Chicag-o. 

She  was  a  successful  teacher  of  Men's  Bible 
Classes,  often  numbering-  more  than  a  hun- 
dred members.  The  work  she  loved  best, 
was  at  the  Pacific  Garden  Mission  in  Chicag-o, 
which  was  g-enuinely  Evang-elistic  She  was 
loved,  trusted  and  leaned  upon  by  those  as- 
sociated with  her  in  these  fields  of  labor,  and 
now  that  ag-e  and  health  no  long-er  permit  pub- 
lic work,  she  exemplifies  the  quiet  g-races  of  a 
Christian  in  the  homes  of  her  children. 


Chaptick  XVIII. 


FAMILY    RECORD    OF    CHARLES    E.   BROWN. 

My  grandfather,  Nathaniel  Brown,  was 
born  in  the  town  of  Leicester,  Massachusetts, 
November  5,  1767.  Died  in  Hainbur,i>-,  Erie 
county,  New  York,  October  1,  1854. 

My  grandmother  Brown,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Anna  Perry,  was  born  in  Vermont, 
April  16,  1770.  Died  in  the  town  of  Augusta, 
Oneida  county.  New  York,  February  4,  1826. 

CHILDREN. 

Sally,  born  in  Bennington,  Vermont,  Jan- 
uary 3,  1788.  Died  in  Aug-usta,  New  York, 
March  20,  1805. 

Phillip  Perry,  (the  name  of  his  maternal 
grandfather),  born  in  Benning-ton,  Vermont, 
September  17,  1790.  Died  in  Madison,  New 
York,   September  23,   1876. 

Nathaniel,  born  in  the  town  of  Kirkland, 
Oneida  county,  New  York,  February  9,  1794. 

[210] 


211 

Died     in     Manlius,     Onondag^a    county,    New 
York,  April  24,  1852. 

Polly,  born  in  Kirkland,  New  York,  July  31, 
1797.  Died  in  Hamburg-,  New  York,  probably 
1856. 

Sophia,   born  in  Kirkland  New  York,  May 

25,  1800.     Died  February  4,   1804. 

William,  born  in  Augusta,  New  York,  April 
5,  1803.  Died  in  Eaton,  New  York,  January 
11,  1841. 

Parley,  born  in  Aug-usta,  New  York,  Jan- 
uary 20,  1806.     Died  in  Augusta,  September 

26,  1826. 

Rufus,  born  in  Augusta,  New  York,  Novem- 
ber 8,  1808.     Died  in  Solsville,  about  1885. 


My  mother,  Betsy  Dickey,  was  born  in 
Wethersfield,  Vermont,  October  23,  1788. 
She  had  four  brothers,  Joseph,  William,  Dan- 
iel, and  Adam,  and  one  sister,  all  born  in 
Wethersfield,  Vermont.  All  died  in  the  State 
of  New  York  except  Adam,  who  died  in  Iowa. 

Phillip  Perry  Brown  and  Betsy  Dickey  were 
married  in  Augusta,  New  York,  September 
27,  1809.  My  mother  died  in  Hamilton,  New 
York,  April  2,  1862. 


212 

RECORD    OF    THKIK    CHILDREN. 

Harley  Philander — Born  in  Aut^usta,  New 
York,  July  30,  1810.  Died  at  Rapids  City, 
Illinois,  May  31,  1863. 

Charles  Edwin  —  Born  in  Aiio-usta,  New 
York,  February  23,  1813.  Died  at  Ottumwa, 
Iowa,  July  23,  1901. 

William — Born  in  Smithfield,  New  York, 
January  1,  1816.  Died  at  New  Hartford,  New 
York,  Aug-ust  9,  1869, 

Sarah — Born  in  Smithfield,  New  York,  May 
30,  1818.  Died  in  Litchfield,  New  York,  Octo- 
ber 2,  1879. 

Ann — Born  in  Smithfield,  New  York,  Octo- 
ber 22,  1820.  Died  at  Lime  Springs,  Iowa, 
September  28,  1870. 

Phillip  Perry,  Jr. — Born  in  Smithfield,  New 
York,  October  8,  1823.  Died  in  Saint  Louis, 
in  April,  1881. 

Adoniran  Judson — Born  in  Smithfield,  New 
York,  March  7,  1826,  Died  at  Port  Byron, 
Illinois,  February  11,  1864. 

Elvira — Born  in  Smithfield,  New  York,  Dec- 
ember 3,  1829. 

Wilbur  M. — Born  in  Augusta,  New  York, 
July  3,  1833.  Died  at  Syracuse,  New  York, 
January  27,  1898. 


213 

FAMILY   RECORD  OF  MY  WIFE,  FRANCES   LYON- 

Benjamin  Lyon  —  Born  in  Rhode  Island, 
April  5.  1770.  Died  in  Russia,  New  York, 
October  24,  1826. 

Marg-aret  Duncan — Born  December  23,  1780. 
Died  in  Openheim,  New  York,  July  5,  1820. 

Benjamin  Lyon  and  Margaret  Duncan  were 
married  the  seventh  of  May,  1801. 

CHILDREN    OF    BENJAMIN    LYON   AND 
MARGARET   DUNCAN. 

Charles  W.— Born  March  4,  1802,  Died  in 
Watertown,  New  York,  February,  1866. 

Eleanor— Born  March  20,  1803.  Died  in 
March,  1806. 

Julia  Ann— Born  June  5,  1804.  Died  Aug- 
ust, 1865. 

Eliza  —  Born  September  30,  1806.  Died 
December,  1871. 

Charlotte— Born  September  29,  1808.  Died 
Aug-ust,  1829. 

Mary— Born  July  8,  1811.     Died  June,  1888. 

Frances — Born  April  15,  1813.  Died  June 
12,  1887. 

John — Born  February  7,  1815.  Died  Dec- 
ember, 1831. 


214 

Geor^re  Duncan-  Born  February  20,  1817. 
Died  March,  1856. 

Second  marria^fe.  Benjamin  Lyon  and  Ros- 
anna  Hall  were  married  in  Russia,  New  York, 
May  26,  1822. 

CHILDREN. 

Marg-aret  M.— Born  March  7,  1823.  Died, 
Muscatine,  Iowa,  Aug-ust  11,  1904. 

Lucretia  Caroline— Born  October  19,  1824. 

Benjamin  and  Elisha (twins) — Born  July  17, 
1826. 


Charles  E.  Brown  and  Prances  Lyon  were 
married  at  Little  Falls,  New  York,  Septem- 
ber, 26,  1838. 

FAMILY    OF   CHARLES    E.    AND    FRANCES 
LYON    BROWN. 

Benjamin  Perry — Born  in  Norway,  Herki- 
mer county.  New  York,  July  30,  1839.  Died, 
by  drowning,  near  Maquoketa,  Iowa,  June  20, 

1848. 

The  following-  extract  is  from  the  record  in 
the  family  Bible,  in  father's  hand  writing: 

"Benjamin    Perry  Brown   was    drowned  in 


215 

the  Maquoketa  river  near  Maquoketa,  Jackson 
county,  Iowa,  June  20,  1848. 

"On  the  morning-  of  the  day  on  which  he 
was  drowned,  he  read  with  his  parents  and 
young-er  brother  the  first  chapter  of  Mark." 


"When  floating  on  Life's  troubled  sea 
By  storms  and  tempests  driven, 

Hope  with  her  radiant  finger  points 
To  brighter  scenes  in  Heaven." 

"She  bids  the  anguished  heart  rejoice, 

Though  earthly  ties  are  riven, 
W^e  still  may  hope  to  meet  again 

In  yonder  peaceful  Heaven." 

At   the   instance    of  his   mother    this  verse 
was  cut  on  his  tomb  stone: 

"Shed  not  for  him  the  bitter  tear; 

Or  give  the  heart  to  vain  regret, 
'Tis  but  the  casket  that  lies  here; 

The  gem  that  filled  it,  sparkles  yet." 


Charles  Perry — Born  in  Warren,  Herkimer 
county.  New  York,  October  30,  1840. 

James    DeGrush — Born    in  LeClaire  town- 
ship, Scott  county,  Iowa,  February  9,  1846. 

Georg-e   Lyon   and  William  Carlos,  (twins), 


216 

Born  in  Norway,  Herkimer  county,  New  York, 
July  29,  1853.  Georg-e  L  died  from  injuries 
received  while  couplino"  cars  at  St.  Paul  Junc- 
tion, Minnesota,  September  1,  1871. 

DEATHS. 

Rev.  Charles  E.  Brown,  born  February  23, 
1813.     Died  July  23,  1901. 

Prances  Lyon  Brown,  born  April  15,  1813. 
Died  June  12,  1887. 

MARRIAGES    OF   CHILDREN 

Charles  Perry  Brown  and  Miss  Adeline  P. 
Fall,  married  by  me,  at  Vernon  Springs, 
Howard  county,  Iowa,  Aug-ust  30,  1866. 

James  DeGrush  Browm  and  Miss  Ella  T. 
Dye,  at  Owatonna,  Minnesota,  married  by  Rev. 
Enoch  Dye,  on  May  13,  1874. 

William  Carlos  Brown  and  Miss  Mary  Ella 
Hewitt,  married  by  meat  Lime  Springs,  How- 
ard county,  Iowa,  June  3,  1874. 

In  1875  three  grand-children,  all  daughters, 
were  born,  one  in  each  family. 

Virinie  F.,  to  James  and  Ella,  at  Lime 
Springs,  Iowa,  on  April  5. 

Georgia  Frances,  to  Will  and  Mary  Ella,  at 
Wilton,  Iowa,  July  23. 


217 

Edith  Adeline,  to  Charles  and  Addie,  at  Ot- 
tumwa,  Iowa,  Aug-ust  3. 

FAMILY  RECORD  OF  CHARLES  PERRY  BROWN. 

Charles  Perry  Brown,  born  October  30, 
1840,  in  the  town  of  Warren,  in  Herkimer 
county.  New  York. 

Adeline  Phoebe  Fall,  born  near  Beloit, 
Wisconsin,  February  10,  1849. 


Charles  Perry  Brown  and  Miss  Adeline 
Phoebe  Fall  were  married  Aug-ust  30,  1866,  at 
Vernon  Spring-s,  Howard  county,  Iowa,  by 
Rev.  Charles  E.  Brown. 

CHILDREN  OF  CHARLES  PERRY  AND  ADELINE 
FALL  BROWN. 

Frances  Lyon,  born  at  Cresco,  Iowa, 
October  6,  1868;  died  at  McGreg-or,  Iowa, 
Aug-ust  31,  1869,  and  buried  in  the  family 
lot  of  Rev.  Georg-e  W.  Fall  at  Cresco,  Iowa. 

Benjamin  Perry,  born  at  McGreg-or, 
Iowa,  December  11,  1869. 

Charles  Edwin,  born  at  Ottumwa,  Iowa, 
November  9,  1872,  and  died  there  October  14, 
1874. 


218 

Edith  Adeline,  horn  at  Ottumwa,  Iowa, 
Auo;-ust  3,  1875;  died  at  the  Glockner  Sani- 
tarium, Colorado  Springrs,  Colorado,  June  6, 
1893. 

Louise  Fall,  born  at  Ottumwa,  Iowa,  Jan- 
uary 28,  1881. 

MARRIAGES    OF   CHILDREN    AND    BIRTH    OF 
GRAND-CHILDREN. 

Benjamin  Perry  Brown  and  Miss  Laura 
Kendall,  were  married  at  Ottumwa,  Iowa,  May 
8,  1895,  by  Rev.  L.  F.  Berry. 

CHILDREN    OF    BENJAMIN    P.    AND    LAURA 
K.    BROWN. 

Prances,  born  at  Ottumwa,  Iowa,  March  4, 
1897. 

Mary  Louise,  born  at  Ottumwa,  Iowa,  Aug"- 
ust  20,  1905. 


Louise  Fall  Brown  and  Lester  M.  Linton 
were  married  May  2,  1905,  at  Ottumwa,  Iowa, 
by  Rev.  P.  A.  Johnson. 


DEATHS. 


Adeline  Fall  Brown,   died  at  Boulder,  Col- 
orado, April  20,  1903. 


219 

Frances  Lyon,  died  at  McGregor,  Iowa, 
August  31,  1869. 

Charles  Edwin,  died  at  Ottumwa,  Iowa,  Oct- 
ober 14,  1874. 

Edith  Adeline,  died  at  Colorado  Springs, 
Colorado,  June  6,  L893. 

Prances  Lyon  is  buried  in  the  family  lot  of 
her  grandfather.  Rev.  George  W.  Fall,  in  the 
Cresco  cemetery. 

Adeline  Fall  Brown,  Charles  Edwin  and 
Edith  Adeline,  are  buried  in  the  family  lot  in 
the  Ottumwa  cemetery,  at  Ottumwa,  Iowa. 

FAMILY    RECORD   OF   JAMES    D.    BROWN. 

James  D.  Brown  was  born  near  LeClaire, 
Scott  county,  Iowa,  February  9,  1846. 

Ella  T.  Dye  was  born  at  North  Brookfield, 
Madison  county.  New  York,  December  30, 
1853. 


James  D.  Brown  and  Miss  Ella  T.  Dye  were 
married  at  Owatonna,  in  Steele  county,  Min- 
nesota, May  13,  1874,  by  Rev.  E.  P.  Dye, 
father  of  the  bride. 


220 

CHILDREN    OF    JAMES    1).    AND    ELI>A    T. 
DYE    imoWN. 

Vinnie  Frances,  born  at  Lime  Sprin<rs,  in 
Howard  county,  Iowa,  April  5,  1875. 

Georg-e  Edwin,  horn  at  Tvime  Sprintrs,  Iowa, 
May  30,  1876. 

Frances  Margaret,  born  at  Lime  Spring's, 
Iowa,  September  1,  1879.  Died  at  Lime 
Spring-s,  Iowa,  September  20,  1882. 

Frank  Log-an,  born  at  Lime  Spring's,  Iowa, 
January  29,  1887. 

MARRIAGES    OF   CHILDREN    AND    BIRTH    OF 
GRAND-CHILDREN. 

George  Edwin  Brown  and  Jennie  Olivia 
Johnson  were  married  in  Ottumwa,  Iowa, 
March   4,  1903,  by  Rev.  F.  G.  Davies. 

CHILDREN    OF   GEORGE   EDWIN   AND   JENNIE 
JOHNSON    BROWN. 

Lloyd  William  Brown,  born  March  2,  1904. 
Marion  Frances  Brown,  born  April  24,  1906. 

FAMILY    RECORD    OF   WILLIAM  C.  BROWN. 

William  C.  Brown,  born  at  Norway,  Her- 
kimer county.  New  York,  July  29,  1853. 


221 

Mary   Ella    Hewitt,    born   at    McHenry,    in 
McHenry  county,  Illinois,  July  19,  1854. 


William  C.  Brown  and  Miss  Mary  Ella 
Hewitt  were  married  at  Lime  Springs,  in 
Howard  county,  Iowa,  June  3,  1874,  by  Rev. 
C.  E.  Brown. 

CHILDREN    OF    WILLIAM    C.  AND    MARY    E. 
HEWITT    BROWN. 

Georg-ia  Prances,  born  at  Wilton,  Iowa, 
July  23,  1875. 

Charles  Edwin,  born  at  Burling-ton,  Iowa, 
September  11,  1877.  Died  at  Lime  Spring's, 
Iowa,  September  11,  1882. 

Lura  Belle,  born  at  Lime  Springs,  Iowa, 
July  17,  1880.  Died  at  Beardstown,  Illinois, 
February  25,  1882. 

Bertha  Adelaide,  born  at  Lime  Spring-s, 
Iowa,  September  2,  1882. 

Marg-aret  Heddens,  born  at  Saint  Joseph, 
Missouri,  March  28,  1891. 

MARRIAGES   OF   CHILDREN    AND    BIRTH    OF 
GRAND-CHILDREN. 

Georg-ia    Prances    Brown    and    Dr.    Prank 


222 

li^Uis   Pierce,  were  married   in  Chicaj^'o,  April 
12,  1899.  by  Rev.  Percival  Mclntire. 

CHILDREN    OF    DK.    P^RANK    E.    AND   GEORGIA 
BROWN    PIERCE. 

William    Brown    Pierce,    born    in    Chicag-o, 
March  6,  1900. 

John  Henry   Pierce,  born   in  Chicaj^o,  July 
8,  1906. 


Bertha  Adelaide  Brown  and  Dr.  Kellog-g- 
Speed,  were  married  in  Chicag-o,  April  12, 
1904,  by  Rev.  John  H.  Hopkins. 

CHILDREN   OF   DR.    KELLOGG   AND    BERTHA 
A.    B.    SPEED. 

Bertha  Brown  Speed,  born  in  Chicago, 
October  8,  1905. 

DEATHS  OF  CHILDREN   OF  WILLIAM  C.  AND 
ELLA    H.    BROWN. 

Lura  Belle,  died  at  Beardstown,  Illinois, 
February  25,  1882;  and  is  buried  in  the  family 
lot  at  Lime  Springs,  Iowa. 

Charles  Edwin,  died  at  Lime  Springs,  Iowa, 
September  11,  1882;  and  is  buried  there  in  the 
family  lot  in  the  cemetery. 


^^ ■ ^ 


APPENDIX 


RESOLUTIONS   OF   RESPECT 

BY  THE 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 

OF 
THE    IOWA  LEGISLATURE. 


MEMORIAL    ADDRESS 

BY 

REV.   J.  W.  V/EDDELL,  D.   D. 

OCTOBER   6,    1901. 

AT   CALVARY    BAPTIST  CHURCH, 

DAVENPORT,    IOWA. 


Letter  from  Wilbur  M.  Brown,  referring 
TO  original  edition  of  these  recollections. 


^' 


JOURNAL  OP  THE  HOUSE. 


Halt,  of   the   Hou.se  oi"   Representatives,  / 
Des  Moines.  Iowa,  Thursday,  February  13,1902.  \ 

House  met  pursuant  to  adjournment,  Speak- 
er Eaton  presiding-. 

Prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  E.  G.  Beyer,  of 
Mavnard,  Iowa. 


report   of  committee    appointed    to    draft    RESOI.UTIONS 
OF  RESPECT  TO  THE  MEMORY  OF  HON.    CHAS.   E.  BROWN. 

Mr.  Speaker — Your  committee  appointed  to  draft  reso- 
lutions of  respect  to  the  niemor)'  of  the  Hon.  Charles  E. 
Brown,  respectfully  submit  the  following: 

Whereas,  Rev.  Charles  E.  Brown,  an  honored  mem- 
ber of  the  Seventeenth  General  Assembly  of  Iowa  from 
Howard  county,  died  in  Ottumwa,  July  23,  1901,  and 

Whereas,  The  life  and  character  of  the  deceased  were 
such  as  to  command  our  love  and  esteem,  and  his  public 
services  to  the  state  and  countr3^  were  of  such  distinction 
as  to  demand  the  respect  and  gratitude  of  his  fellow  citi- 
zens; therefore,  be  it 

Resolved,  That  in  his  death  the  state  has  lost  an  able 
conscientious  citizen,  a  man  who  suffered  the  inconven- 
ience of  pioneer  life  in  the  cause  of  religion  and  state,  that 
we  extend  to  his  children  our  sincere  sympathy  in  their 
affliction. 

Resolved,  That  these  resolutions  be  entered  in  the  Journ- 

[21 


al  of  the  House,  and  the  Chief  Clerk   of  the  House  be  in- 
structed to  present  an  engrossed  copy  thereof  to  his  sons. 

A.  W.  Buchanan, 
W.  K.  Barker, 
Raymond  C.  I^angan, 

Committee. 

Mr.  Buchanan  moved  the  adoption  of  the 
report  of  the  committee. 

Adopted  unanimously  by  rising-  vote. 

The  following-  speeches  by  Buchanan  of 
Wapello,  Barker  of  Howard,  Langan  of 
Clinton,  on  the  death  of  Rev.  Mr.  Brown,  were 
ordered  printed  in  the  Journal  on  motion  of 
Warren  of  Marion. 

Mr.  Buchanan  said: 

Mr.  Speaker — It  is  not  the  intention  to  take  the  time  of 
this  House  in  a  long-  eulogy  of  the  deceased.  His  life  of 
usefulness  to  the  state  should  not  be  passed  without  some 
little  comment. 

Charles  E.  Brown  left  his  home  in  New  York  in  1842. 
He  came  to  the  territory  of  Iowa  as  a  pioneer  missionary. 
He  was  a  man  of  excellent  judgment,  strong  character, 
and  of  a  progressive  nature,  and  could  have  attained  a 
high  place  in  the  commercial  world,  but  preferred  rather 
to  devote  his  life  to  the  betterment  of  his  fellow  men.  He 
gained  no  great  wealth,  but  was  able  to  give  his  sons  an 
education  that  has  given  to  the  state  men  eminent  in  the 
railroad  and  commercial  world. 

It  was  not  my  privilege  to  know  the  deceased  personally; 
coming  to  our  city  at  the  advanced  age  of  over  four  score 
years  he  made  but  few  acquaintances,  but  those  who  knew 
him  well,  held  him  in  high  esteem. 

Being  possessed  of  his  full  mental  faculties  he  saw  the 
approaching  end  and  was  full  of  the  faith,  and  died  as  he 


had    lived,    belicvinfi;-    if    a    man    die  he    shall    live    aj,'-ain. 
Mr.  Speaker,    I    move    the    rules    be    suspended  and  this 
resolution  be  adopted  by  a  rising-  vote. 

Mr.   Barker  said: 

Mr.  Speaker— It  is  for  us  to  pause  a  moment  in  our  leg- 
islative duties  that  our  thoughts  may  revert  to  the  early 
pioneers  of  our  state  who  have  passed  the  way  of  all  mor- 
tality—that we  may  pay  our  tributes  of  respect  to  their 
memory,  their  virtues,  and  their  worth. 

The  life  of  the  subject  of  these  memorial  resolutions  was 
measured  by  more  than  four  score  and  eight  years  and 
about  half  that  long  and  useful  life  was  passed  in  Howard 
county. 

It  therefore  seems  proper  that  I,  as  the  representative  of 
that  county  in  this  general  assembly,  should  add  my  con- 
tribution to  his  worth  as  a  man  and  as  a  citizen  of  our 
county  and  state. 

Charles  E.  Brown  was  born  in  Oneida  county,  N.  Y., 
February  23,  1813,  and  died  in  Ottumwa,  July  23,  1901. 

He  studied  for  the  ministry  and  was  a  graduate  of  Mad- 
ison university.  New  York.  He  was  married  in  1838  to 
Miss  Frances  Lyon,  who  was  his  companion  for  nearly 
fifty  years  in  his  journey  upon  earth.  Three  sons  survive 
him,  two  of  them  being  worthy  citizens  of  Wapello  county, 
Iowa,  and  the  third  has  gained  a  national  reputation  in 
railroad  circles  by  rising  from  the  humble  position  of 
brakeman  to  that  of  general  manager  of  the  Chicago, 
Burlington  &  Quincy  railroad,  and  then  vice-president  of 
the  L^ake  Shore  &  Michigan  Southern  railway,  and  is  at 
this  time  vice-president  of  the  New  York  Central. 

Soon  after  leaving  college,  the  subject  of  these  resolu- 
tions concluded  to  devote  his  life  to  the  service  of  his 
fellowman  as  a  missionary.  Leaving  his  home  of  compar- 
ative comfort  in  New  York,  he  came  west  in  1842 
and  settled  in  the  territory  of  Iowa  about  two  miles  from 
Maquoketa,  in  Jackson  county,  and  for  the  greater  part  of 
the  next  twelve  years  he  devoted  his  time  to  his  work 
among  the   early   settlers,    from   Davenport   northward   to 


Minnesota,  facings  the  storms  of  winter  among-  the  pioneers 
with  that  tireless  energy  and  zeal  which  was  characteristic 
of  him  in  any  cause  he  espoused. 

At  or  about  the  organization  of  Howard  county,  he  set- 
tled there  and  was  elected  its  first  county  superintendent 
of  schools. 

He  was  also  an  active  and  an  honored  member  of  the 
Seventeenth  General  Assembly,  serving  acceptably  in  that 
body  as  representative  of  Howard  county. 

Throug-hout  his  life,  whether  in  the  cabin  or  more  pre- 
tentious dwelling-,  he  was  always  the  same  social,  de- 
vout Christian  gentleman,  practicing  in  his  daily  walk 
those  precepts  he  sought  to  inculcate  in  others.  He  was 
intensely  lo3'al  and  patiiotic  and  when  his  conclusions 
were  reached  upon  any  subject,  they  were  definite  and 
positive. 

He  advocated  his  religious  and  political  opinions  with 
earnestness,  sincerity,  and  fidelity,  and  he  was  never 
vacilating  or  uncertain.  He  had  a  clear  head  and  a  strong 
mind.  He  was  never  known  to  compromise  with  what  he 
believed  to  be  a  wrong. 

In  short,  his  life  was  spent  in  the  service  of  mankind  and 
it  was  his  greatest  pleasure  to  aid  in  the  uplifting  of  all 
humanity  and  for  those  in  affliction  he  was  generous  and 
was  ever  ready  with  kindly  sympathy  and  assistance. 

When  the  infirmities  of  age  were  gathering  about  him, 
when  he  realized  his  time  on  earth  was  short,  without  sick- 
ness, without  pain,  and  without  a  murmur,  he  folded  his 
hands  across  his  breast  and  lapsed  into  that  dreamless 
sleep  from  which  there  is  no  awakening  upon  earth,  but  he 
had  an  abiding  faith  and  trust  that,  in  a  better  world,  he 
would  awaken  in  the  likeness  of  his  Master  that  he  had 
served  so  long  and  faithfully. 

I  second  the  motion  of  the  gentleman  from  Wapello  to 
adopt  the  resolutions. 

Mr.  Lang-an  said  : 

Mr.  Speaker — A  word  and  I  am  done. 

I  shall  not  attempt  to  give  a  biographical  sketch  of  the 


deceased,  nor  dwell  at  leii<j;^th  upon  his  private  or  public 
life.  That  has  been  done  by  those  more  intimate  with  him 
than  I.  However,  it  should  be  an  especial  pleasure  to  every 
young  man  to  chronicle  to  the  world  some  characteristics  of 
those  who  have  lived  long^  and  served  the  interests  of  the 
state  well  and  good. 

The  subject  of  these  resolutions,  Rev.  C.  E.  Brown,  a 
member  of  the  Seventeenth  General  Assembly  of  Iowa, 
settled  in  Jackson  county,  adjoining-  my  home  county  on 
the  north,  some  sixty  years  ago.  In  the  wildnerness  of 
that  county,  with  but  the  meager  compensation  of  one  hun- 
dred dollars  per  year,  he  served  the  scattered  population  as 
a  missionary,  administering  to  them  the  consolation  of  his 
sacred  calling.  Coming  from  New  York  an  educated 
young  man,  possessing  qualifications  which  would  have 
entitled  him  to  recognition  amid  the  environments  of  his 
own  state,  he  demonstrated  his  earnest  and  sacrificing 
nature.  The  duties  of  his  vocation  were  ever  pleasant. 
His  labors  for  religion  and  state  were  ceaseless.  While  he 
expounded  the  truths  of  the  gospel  from  the  rudely  de- 
vised and  primitively  constructed  pulpit,  he  exemplified 
good  citizenship  by  his  daily  life.  His  unselfish  spirit  pre- 
vailed through  life.  Death  only  could  release  him  from  his 
cbosen  work  A  few  lines  from  his  home  paper  tells  the 
reward  of  his  beautiful  life. 

''Death  came  in  his  eighty-ninth  year,  July  23,  1901,  at 
Ottumwa,  Iowa,  from  a  gradual  failing  of  his  vital  powers, 
and  the  end  was  peaceful  and  painless." 

What  more  in  this  world  can  we  ask  for  than  a  happy 
death  at  the  completion  of  life's  labors  ? 

Thus  ended  a  man  who  made  the  world  better  for  having 
lived,  better  for  having  played  a  part  on  the  stage  of  life. 
Thus  ended  a  pioneer,  a  type  of  man  which  from- 
natural  and  apparent  reasons,  is  rapidly  passing  away 
Each  general  assembly  records  on  its  journal  the  names  of 
former  members  who  are  called  to  "the  undiscovered 
country,  from  whose  bourne  no  traveler  returns," 

Too  much  cannot  be  said  of  the   man   who  braved  the 
vicissitudes  which  beset  the  path  of  the  pioneer.     No  inco- 


miutii  expresses  or  contemplates  the  suffering  endured 
by  him.  The  proud  State  of  Iowa  stands  as  a  monument  to 
his  labors.  His  work  is  a  matter  of  history.  Hardly  had 
the  hand  of  the  pioneer  father  felled  the  oak  of  the  forests 
and  placed  it  as  a  log-  of  the  sheltering-  cabin  till  duty's 
cause  called  a  son  to  service  on  the  battle  field.  Some  re- 
turned to  enjoy  the  labor  of  the  past,  others  sleep  beneath 
the  g-round  they  consecrated  with  their  lives. 

We  can  never  fully  estimate  the  debt  of  gratitude  we 
owe  the  pioneer.  Only  the  highest  type  of  the  unselfish 
man  could  have  faced  the  task.  His  work  had  the  force  of 
the  mythical  wand  of  magic  and  transformed  the  once  im- 
penetrable forests  and  prairies  of  Iowa  to  fields  teeming  in 
wealth.  A  word  of  consideration  is,  at  the  best,  but  mea- 
ger recognition  of  service  tendered  the  state  when  there 
was  a  scarcity  of  learning  but  a  broad  field  of  conquest. 
That   service    made  possible  the  bright  galaxy  of  Iowa 

statesmen  now  at  Washington.     It  made  possible  a  Wilson, 

a  Shaw,  a  DoUiver,  and  an  Allison. 

Mr.  Speaker,  let  the  name  of  him  who  has  passed  away 
be  cherished  by  the  members  of  this  assembly;  let  the  his- 
tory of  his  life  be  preserved  as  the  reward  of  one  who  nur- 
tured society  in  its  infancy  with  the  sustaining  and  sooth- 
ing influence  of  a  guardian  during  the  wild  and  tumultuous 
period  of  pioneer  days. 


c^^^,^-7x— ^,^3^-3^ 


0- 


LEST    WE    FORGET 


MEMORIAL  DISCOURSE 


IN  HONOR  OF 


REV.  CHARLES    E.   BROWN. 


Delivered  at  Calvary  Baptist  Church, 

DAVENPORT.  IOWA. 

October  6.  1901. 


J.  W.  WEDDELL,  D.  D. 

Pastor  of  the  Church. 


O ■ Q 


REV.  CHARLES  E.  BROWN. 
Feb.  20, 1813— July  23,  1901 


"Servant  of  God,  well  done! 

Rest  from  th)^  loved  employ; 
The  battle  fought,  the  victory  won, 

Enter  thy  Master's  joy. 

The  pains  of  death  are  past, 

Labor  and  sorrow  cease. 
And  life's  long-  warfare  closed  at  last. 

His  soul  is  found  in  peace. 

Soldier  of  Christ,  well  done! 

Praise  be  thy  new  employ; 
And  while  eternal  ages  run, 

Rest  in  thy  Saviour's  joy." 


LEST  WE  P0R(;ET. 


''Beware  lest  thou  forget  the  Lord,  which  brought  thee 
forth.  "     Ueut.  6:  12. 

"Lest  we  forget,"  "lest  we  forget."  O  how  easily  we 
lose  sight,  in  better  times,  of  the  days  of  privation  and 
toil!  "Beware."  Elsewhere  Moses  says,  (8:  2)  "And  thou 
shalt  remember  all  the  way  which  the  Lord  thy  God  led 
thee  these  forty  years  in  the  wilderness,  to  humble  thee 
and  to  prove  thee." 

It  seems  strange  that  memory  should  need  exhortation 
and  command,  or  that  the  church  of  God  should  require 
such  oft  reminder  of  the  past,  but,  alas,  we  are  prone  to 
forget,  in  prosperous  days,  the  way  by  which  we  have  been 
led  in  the  initial  times  of  trial  and  testing.  Families  over- 
look their  old  environments,  sons  and  daughters  happy  in 
the  possession  of  rich  estates  and  the  luxuries  of  wealth, 
forget  the  toil  of  father  and  mother  or  of  grandfather  and 
grandmother  at  the  forge,  or  the  bench,  or  behind  the 
plow,  bending  to  the  laborious  accumulation  of  the  things 
their  children  now  enjoy. 

In  the  same  way,  Moses,  casting  his  eye  forward,  wise 
statesman  that  he  was,  as  well  as  prophet,  foresaw  the 
time  when  the  children  of  Israel,  blest  in  the  enjoyment 
of  things  for  which  they  had  labored  not,  would  forg-et  the 
hardships  endured  by  the  fathers  in  an  early  day  and  the 
God  that  brought  them  out;  therefore  he  urged  them  to 
recall  these  things  often  and  so  keep  in  a  humble  and 
grateful  and  reverent  frame  of  mind  toward  the  Giver  of 
every  good  and  perfect  gift. 

We  are  not  free  from  a  like  peril.  Ours  is  a  wonderful 
heritage  in  this  Iowa  land.     Prosperity   beyond  the  com- 

[10] 


11 

mon  lot  of  man  has  crowned  the  efforts  that  have  been  put 
forth,  and  we  find  ourselves  in  the  midst  of  richly  pro- 
ductive conditions.  These  have  come  to  us,  under  God's 
kind  hand,  as  a  legacy  from  the  past.  "Other  men  labored 
and  ye  are  entered  into  their  labors;"  or  the  fruits  of  their 
labors.  "Great  and  goodly  cities,  which  thou  buildest  not, 
and  houses  full  of  all  good  things  which  thou  filledst  not, 
and  wells  which  thou  diggedst  not,  and  vine3'ardi  and 
olive  trees  which  thou  plantedst  not." 

Now,  we  rejoice  in  this  blessed  inheritance;  but  there  is 
danger  here.  Let  us  listen  to  the  prudent  admonition  of 
Moses,  the  man  of  God,  spoken  for  people  in  just  such 
prosperous  surroundings  as  belong  to  us  today  in  this  fair 
state  of  ours:  "When  thou  shalt  have  eaten  and  be  full, 
then  beware  lest  thou  forget  the  Lord,  which  brought  thee 
forth  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt,  from  the  house  of  bondage." 
The  lesson  is  plain.  In  days  of  affluence  and  ease  remem- 
ber the  beginning  days,  when  God's  succoring  hand  was 
especially  manifest,  lest  we  forget  God  and  along  with 
God,  the  sources  of  all  present,  past  and  future  good. 

The  recent  sixtieth  annual  session  of  the  Davenport  Bap- 
tist Association  was  sadly  accentuated  by  the  death  of  the 
venerable  and  beloved  father  in  the  faith.  Rev.  Charles  E. 
Brown,  one  of  the  first  preachers  of  the  gospel  in  this 
region.  We  are  hereby  led  to  a  recall  of  the  early  incidents 
and  events  that  marked  the  beginning  days  of  our  Baptist 
intetests  in  this  state. 

Our  fathers  in  the  faith  were  aggressive,  and  we  began 
Baptist  history  right  along  with  the  records  of  the  organ- 
ization of  the  territory.  From  earliest  times  this  country 
lying  west  of  the  Mississippi  and  along  the  forty-first  and 
forty-second  parallels  of  latitude  was  recognized  as  a 
choice  spot  for  homes  and  farms  and  cities.  A  veritable 
garden  of  the  Lord,  it  seemed  to  the  earliest  comers,  and 
the  tales  they  tell  of  its  park-like  appearance  as  their  eyes 
first  rested  upon  it  are  interesting  to  hear  and  we  catch  a 
bit  of  that  first  enthusiasm  as  we  listen. 

But  the  enthusiasm  and  vim  of  these  first  settlers,  seek- 
ing lands  and  houses  and  earthly  things,  was  watched  by 


12 

the  hif^h  purpose  of  tlie  early  preachers  of  i\\p  f^ospel. 
Witness  the  earnestness  of  soul  and  enerf;^y  of  hand  and 
foot,  which  such  men  as  those  devoted  seekers  of  souls  and 
spiritual  thing^s,  the  Iowa  Rand  of  Andover  students,  ex- 
emplified, as  they  left  the  snug-  ensconcements  of  the  east 
and  plung-ed  into  these  new  and  untried  but  not  unpromis- 
ing surroundings.  And  so  our  Baptist  fathers  were  here 
ere  the  Redman  had  disappeared  or  the  buffalo  had  ceased 
to  tramp  across  our  fertile  western  hills  and  prairies. 
Chapels  arose  with  saw  mills,  and  churches  with  factories, 
and  preceding-  these,  the  land  prospector  and  the  scout  of 
civilization  shared  the  rude  but  kindly  hospitality  of  the 
plains  with  the  hardy  and  hopeful  pioneer  preacher  and 
missionary.  In  this,  these  noble  men  were  but  proving- 
their  calling-  of  the  Ivord  and  carrying  out  that  good  spirit 
of  the  first  evangels  of  the  gospel,  who  in  answer  to  the 
Macedonian  cry  that  kept  ever  leading  farther  out  and  on, 
were  found  "in  journeyings  often,  in  perils  of  waters,  in 
perils  of  robbers,  in  perils  by  mine  own  countrymen,  in 
perils  by  the  heathen  (i.  e.  other  countrymen),  in  perils  in 
the  city,  in  perils  in  the  wilderness,  in  perils  in  the  sea,  in 
perils  among  false  brethren,  in  weariness  and  painfulness, 
in  watchings  often,  in  hunger  and  thirst,  in  fastings  often, 
in  cold  and  nakedness."  Of  such  good  witness  and  testi- 
mony Paul  gives  record  in  II  Cor.  11:  26-27.  The  early 
workers  in  the  planting  of  churches  and  Sunday  schools  of 
our  faith  and  order  in  Iowa,  had  their  share  of  these  divine 
credentials. 

We  are  familiar  with  the  fact  that  the  first  church  to  be 
organized  in  Iowa  was  that  at  Danville,  in  1834,  under 
Elder  John  Logan,  a  name  since  honored  in  the  nation, 
who  came  across  from  the  Illinois  interior  to  help  form  the 
initial  Baptist  nucleus.  That  was  down  Burlingtonwards 
at  old  Long  Creek,  as  then  called.  In  1839  the  Home  Mis- 
sion Society  commissioned  Calvin  Greenleaf  to  come  over 
from  Griggsville,  Illinois,  and  organize  the  growing  Bap- 
tist band  at  Davenport  into  a  church  society.  Rev.  Titus 
Gillett  of  Rock  Island,  completing  the  organization.  About 
the  same  time  Hezekiah  Johnson,  the  father  of  Dr.  Frank- 


13 

lin  Johnson,  of  the  University  of  Chicago,  who  very  appro- 
priately, a  few  years  since,  preached  the  sixtieth  anniver- 
sary sermon  at  Davenport,  and  Ezra  Fisher,  who  is  known 
as  the  first  pastor,  at  Davenport,  appear  upon  the  records. 
These  two  started  from  the  latter  place  a  little  later  on  the 
venturesome  and  heroic  overland  journey  to  Oregon.  The 
hopeful  and  self-sacrificing  spirit  of  those  days  may  be 
judged  from  the  further  fact  that  when  the  first  state  or 
rather  territorial  convention  was  held  in  1842  at  Iowa  City, 
M.  W.  Rudd,  late  of  Washington,  Iowa,  walked  seventy-five 
miles  to  attend  the  meeting,  helped  along  a  little  by  hold- 
ing on  to  the  pommel  of  another  brother's  saddle. 

Rev.  S.  H.  Mitchell  in  his  Historical  Sketch  of  Iowa  Bap- 
tists, to  which  thesaurus  of  biographic  material  we  are  not 
a  little  indebted,  also  instances  the  fact  that  at  the  time 
when  the  first  meeting  of  the  Davenport  association  was 
held  at  Davenport  in  1842,  a  missionary  and  his  wife  trav- 
eled fort}^  miles  to  attend  the  meeting,  startling  even  the 
primitive  settlement  of  Davenport  as  he  drove  in  "on  a  one 
horse  cart,  constructed  out  of  the  hind  wheels  and  axle  of 
an  old  lumber  wagon,  with  a  couple  of  old  rails  for  thills 
and  a  bundle  of  oats  for  a  cushion  " 

It  was  at  this  meeting  and  that  of  the  territorial  conven- 
tion a  month  or  two  previous  that  Rev,  Charles  E.  Brown's 
name  first  appears,  though  he  had  been  preaching  and  vis- 
iting for  some  months  at  Maquoketa  and  in  the  vicinity. 
He  took  a  prominent  part  in  the  organization  of  the 
churches  into  associational  form.  At  this  time  there  were 
seven  within  range.  Rock  Island  being  at  first  included. 
It  was  stated  by  Brother  Brown  as  a  curious  occasion  for 
the  associational  date  that  it  was  so  fixed  as  to  avoid  the 
sickly  season— when  is  that? — and  also  to  bring  the  meet- 
ings at  a  time  when  fruits,  vegetables  and  chickens  would 
be  abundant.  The  association  still  follows  in  a  way  this 
wholesome  precedent. 

The  brother  who  came  to  this  first  association  in  the 
modest  make-shift  of  a  conveyance,  above  referred  to, 
caring  more,  as  was  right,  for  the  high  requirements  of  the 
occasion  than  for  its  conveniences  or  discomforts,  was  none 


14 

other,  as  his  own  "l*orsoiial  Keniitiisceiices"'  tell,  than 
Father  Brown.  He  had  lately  settled  as  missionary  pastor 
at  the  Forks  of  Maquoketa,  and  felt  that  as  a  faithful  stew- 
ard he  must  not  miss  the  meeting-.  But  how  should  he  and 
his  wife  attend,  the  onlj'  vehicle  within  reach  having-  left 
the  settlement?  Here  is  his  own  characteristic  account  of 
the  affair:  "I  secured  the  loan  of  the  hind  wheels  and 
axletree  of  a  Hoosier  lumber  wagon,  went  to  the  fence  and 
got  poles  suitable  for  thills,  and  whit  a  board  on  wooden 
pegs,  we  were  soon  ready  for  the  forty  mile  trip.''  He 
adds  somewhat  facetiously,  in  view  of  the  wild  sensations 
his  arrival  made,  "Although  road  carts  were  not  as  popular 
and  common  then  as  now,  we  felt  not  the  slightest  embar- 
rassment in  driving  up  in  front  of  the  residence  of  Dr. 
Witherwax."  The  meetings,  he  says,  were  held  in  a  small 
frame  building  on  Front  street,  the  Baptist  church  having 
been  planted  here  three  years  before,  in  Septeinber,  1839. 
A  brick  meeting-house,  however,  was  erected  shortly  after 
the  association,  at  the  southeast  corner  of  Fourth  and 
Brady  streets. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Davenport  association,  with  all 
its  limitations,  is  said  by  Brother  Brown,  to  have  been  one 
of  sweet  and  precious  interest,  and  after  singing  the  old- 
time  hymn, 

''From  Whence  doth  this  Union  Arisef' 

"the  brethren  reluctantly  parted  to  their  homes  and  to 
their  work."  These,  he  continues,  "were  not  days  of  rail- 
road coaches  and  cushioned  carriages,  but  emigrant  trails, 
unbridged  rivers,  creeks  and  sloughs,  old  lumber  wagons, 
prairie  schooners  and  old  dilapidated  saddles.  But  precious 
enjo3'ment  in  this  pioneer  missionary  life  and  work.  How 
sweet  the  memory  still."  Unbridged  rivers,  however,  and 
other  hindrances  did  not  deter  such  resolute  spirits  as 
these.  Once  cut  off  by  a  washout  in  the  prairie,  when  on 
his  way  with  Mrs.  Brown  to  the  meeting  of  the  first  terri- 
torial convention  at  Iowa  City,  with  a  sharp  cut  of  the 
whip  he  leaped  his  horse,  wagon  and  all,  across  the  chasm, 
gathering  together  his  scattered  effects  as  best  he  could, 


15 

on  the  other  side  of  the  gully;  and  at  another  time  when 
arrested  by  a  swollen  stream,  on  the  way  to  Mt.  Pleasant 
(to  the  second  territorial  convention),  he  cut  a  grape-vine, 
swam  the  stream  and  pulled  over  the  wagon  piece  meal, 
putting  it  together  again  on  the  farther  bank.  In  this  con- 
nection we  may  mention  the  humble  manner  in  which 
Father  Brown  and  his  little  family  started  out  on  the  over- 
land journey  from  Chicago.  They  had  already  been  a 
score  of  days  coming  by  canal  boat  and  steamer  from  the 
interior  of  York  state. 

Here  was  the  manner  of  the  home-stretch,  heroic  and 
handsome,  in  its  way: 

"On  Monday  we  hired  a  man  from  Rockford  who  had 
been  in  with  a  load,  to  take  us  and  oar  goods  to  Savanna, 
on  the  Mississippi  river.  It  was  a  lumber  wagon.  After 
loading  the  boxes,  the  rocking  chair,  which  we  had  brought 
from  our  New  York  home,  was  fastened  on  top  of  one  of 
the  boxes;  a  little  chair  from  a  furniture  store  was  fastened 
to  the  side  of  the  rocker.  My  good  wife  cheerfully  mounted 
and  took  her  seat  in  the  rocking  chair  and  the  youngest 
child  in  her  lap  and  the  other  one  by  her  side,  remarking, 
'Now  this  is  first  rate.'  I  took  a  seat  on  a  box  beside  the 
driver  with  our  feet  resting  on  the  whiffletrees,  ready  for  a 
trip  of  two  hundred  miles  to  our  future  home  in  the  state 
of  Iowa."  So  they  made  their  advent  on  the  scene  of  their 
labors. 

That  was  what  it  cost  in  endurance  and  hard  labor,  to 
start  things  agoing  religiously  in  these  parts.  Some  idea 
of  the  compensations  of  the  pioneers  may  be  learned  from 
the  records  of  that  first  winter  following  the  association, 
spent  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Brown,  because  of  the  severity  of 
the  weather,  in  Davenport.  "For  weeks,"  he  says,  "in  the 
dead  of  winter  we  had  revival  meetings  in  the  court  house 
at  Rock  Island,  and  by  reason  of  the  solid  ice  bridge  on  the 
Mississippi  river  the  Davenport  people  could  attend  and 
take  part  in  the  meetings  over  the  water,  and  did  and 
shared  largely  in  the  results  of  the  good  work.  Over  forty 
were  received  by  baptism  into  the  two  churches.''  Daven- 
port alone  received  eighteen  by  baptism  and  fifteen  by 
letter. 


16 

Following  this  meeting-,  lOlder  Brown  went  up  the  river 
and  org-anized  the  churches  at  Camanche  and  Port  Byron, 
LeClaire  having  been  in  existence  since  the  spring  of  1839. 

In  those  days  Davenport  Association  bulked  larger  than 
it  does  today.  It  covered  all  the  territory  of  Northern 
Iowa  and  reached  over  into  Minnesota.  Iowa  City  in  its 
further  bounds,  the  then  capital  of  the  state,  was  North 
America's  fartherest  western  mission  point.  There  was 
no  mission  station  between  it  and  the  coast.  This  was  true 
as  late  as  1845.  There  were  indeed  waste  places  in  Iowa  in 
those  da3's.  and  wide  distances  intervened.  One  worthy 
brother,  asked  to  visit  a  certain  field,  wrote,  "I  have  no  way 
to  go,  but  to  walk  or  ride  an  ox.''  And  yet  the  brethren  of 
the  state  board  by  dint  of  much  sacrifice,  managed  to  meet 
and  consult  and  devise  in  the  interest  of  the  churches.  We 
shall  never  know  the  hardships  necessitated  or  the  pains 
and  perils  passed  through.  State  Missionary  Smith  one 
time  in  the  early  days  started  out  on  horseback  to  attend 
the  Boat's  meeting  at  Dubuque.  It  was  freezing  cold  and 
growing  colder.  The  first  day  he  managed  to  get  from 
Iowa  City  to  Anamosa,  through  the  bitter  wind.  The  next 
morning,  in  spite  of  the  protestations  of  his  friends,  frail 
man  that  he  was  physically,  he  set  out  in  the  teeth  of  a 
blizzard,  across  what  was  called  Bowen's  Prairie,  reaching 
at  night-fall  a  little  cabin  at  what  is  now  Monticello,  half 
frozen,  but  still  pressing  on.  The  next  day  he  was  off 
again  for  Cascade,  stumbling  along  through  the  drifting 
snow,  and  the  next  day,  faint  but  pursuing,  he  reached 
his  coveted  destination  at  Dubuque,  and  there  met  the 
brethren  and  transacted  the  work  of  the  lyord. 

Ah,  those  were  days  of  heroism,  and  we  do  well  to  honor 
the  faith  and  fortitude  of  such  men  in  laying  the  founda- 
tions of  our  work  in  the  state.  There  was  rich  promise  in 
the  soil  and  the  stimulus  of  a  contagious  spirit  of  hope  and 
expectation  in  the  air,  but  morally  and  religiously  it  was  a 
time  that  tried  men's  heaits.  Those  of  us  who  were  ac- 
customed to  hear  Elder  Brown  on  his  oft  repeated  visits  to 
the  scene  of  his  former  labors — one  of  the  amenities  of  his 
later  days,  for   which    he  and  we  are  indebted  to  his   son, 


17 

Superintendent  Brown,  formerly  General  Manager  of  the 
C.  B.  &Q.,  now  Vice-President  of  the  Ivake  Shore  Railroad, 
who  also,  we  may  say,  is  the  thoughtful  publisher  of  this 
booklet — those  of  us,  who  heard  his  terse  and  direct  re- 
minders of  former  days,  will  not  soon  forget  one  incident 
he  used  to  relate  with  zest.  We  can  see  him  now  as  he 
told  it  to  us,  half  leaning  on  his  cane,  the  old  Rock  Island 
court  house  cane  (cut  from  its  timbers)  which  he  thought 
so  much  of. 

"When  we  came,"  he  used  to  say,  "to  the  Forks  of  the 
Maquoketa,  wife  and  I,  it  was  new  ground,  and  we  were  far 
from  our  old  friends  and  among  strangers.  We  found  very 
few  at  first  that  cared  for  the  things  of  Christ,  and  a  thick 
mist  had  settled  down  upon  everything,  far  and  near,  that 
made  the  burden  of  our  homesickness  all  the  more  heavy. 
But  out  on  my  rounds,  looking  for  the  lost  sheep  of  the 
house  of  Israel,  the  wind  came  up,  the  sun  suddenly  broke 
through  the  clouds  and  with  it  came  a  sense  of  God's  help 
and  a  new  lifting  of  the  heart.  I  saw  the  broad  fields  and 
forests  and  the  beautiful  landscape,  dotted  with  new  homes, 
as  I  had  not  seen  it  before,  and  I  thanked  God  that  he  had 
led  me  to  cast  my  lot  with  this  people  to  lead  their 
thoughts  to  heavenly  things;  and  what  was  best  of  all,  as 
I  rode  up  on  my  horse  toward  the  log  hut  where  we  were 
stopping,  I  saw  my  dear  wife  coming  out  to  see  me,  with  a 
new  light  in  her  eye,  and  as  she  met  me  she  said,  'Charles, 
we  have  come  to  Iowa  to  do  good,  and  will  stay  and  trust 
in  the  Lord'.'  It  was  all  different  after  that,  and  the  work 
went  right  on.'' 

It  was  a  good  work  in  those  days  of  the  forties  and  fifties. 
There  was  a  freedom  and  sprightliness  in  the  atmosphere, 
a  cheery  temper  to  the  soul,  and  though  money  was  not 
plentiful,  men  gave  cordially  and  promptly  to  all  good 
objects,  and  sometimes  wuth  a  liberality  that  shames  the 
tame  generosity  of  these  more  prosperous  days. 

Dr.   Dexter   P.   Smith,   to   whom  reference    has    already 

been  made,  at  one  time  missionary  (from  1845  to  1851)  of 

the  Home   Mission   Society  at  Iowa  City,  and  afterwards 

(from  1851  to  1859)  in  the  employ  of  the  American  Sunday 

I 


18 

School  Union,  as  general  missionary  for  Iowa,  tells  this 
unique  incident  of  those  times.  "February  17,  1856,  I  was 
in  Davenport.  In  the  morning  1  preached  in  the  Congrega- 
tional church  and  received  a  collection  of  $60.25.  In  the 
evening  I  addressed  a  union  meeting  at  the  Baptist  church. 
Cash  collection,  Sl()3.()0.  Slips  of  paper  were  circulated 
for  subscriptions.  Upon  one  of  these  small  slips  was  the 
following  subscription:  'Martin  Reisorf,  one  thousand  dol- 
lars (SI, 000), payable  at  Cook  &  Sargent's  Bank,  Davenport, 
October  2,  1856.'  As  no  one  of  the  friends  knew  any  one 
in  Davenport  by  the  name  of  Martin  Reisorf,  the  subscrip- 
tion was  valued  at  a  discount  of  about  one  hundred  per 
cent.  The  next  morning,  with  a  friend,  I  inquired  at 
Cook  cS:  Sargent's  Bank,  but  the  officials  knew  of  no  such 
person,  which  strengthened  the  belief  that  it  was  a  mere 
hoax,  and  that  we  should  hear  no  more  of  it.  But  my  own 
mind  was  strongly  impressed  that  God  had  touched  the 
heart  of  some  one,  and  disposed  him  to  do  a  noble  thing 
for  the  good  cause.  Just  before  the  subscription  matured, 
upon  the  streets  of  Davenport,  a  stranger  met  the  Rev.  E. 
M.  Miles,  pastor  of  the  Baptist  church,  and  inquired,  'Do 
you  recollect  that  a  subscription  of  $1,000  for  the  Sunday 
School  work  was  given  in  response  to  Mr.  Smiih^s  recent 
lecture  and  appeal?'  'I  recollect  it  ver}^  well,'  said  Mr. 
Miles,  and  the  stranger  continued:  'Can  you  convey  the 
funds  to  Mr.  Smith  without  trouble?'  Mr.  Miles  assured 
him  that  it  could  be  done  without  the  least  trouble.  *Then,' 
said  the  unknown  stranger,  'I  will  pa)^  the  amount,  to  you 
instead  of  depositing  it  at  the  bank,'  and  he  handed  him  a 
purse  of  gold  containing  a  thousand  dollars  in  fifty  pieces 
of  twenty  dollars  each.  In  the  excitement  of  the  moment 
the  stranger  passed  from  sight,  and  from  that  day  search 
was  made  in  vain  for  the  generous  donor." 

The  Iowa  Board  of  State  Missions  in  connection  with  the 
State  Convention  was  organized  in  1855.  Rev.  Elihu  Gunn, 
the  corresponding  secretary,  thus  describes  the  field  as  it 
was  then.  "The  state  of  Iowa  is  at  present  filling  up  by 
an  immigration  altogether  unexampled  in  the  history  of 
our  country.     It    is  computed  by    those    best   qualified    to 


19 

judg-e  that  not  less  than  two  hundred  thousand  people  have 
found  homes  within  the  ample  borders  of  our  state  within 
the  last  two  years."  "The  great  thoroughfares  of  travel 
along  the  line  of  the  lakes  uniting  the  Atlantic  cities  with 
the  Mississippi  river,  have  been  choked  with  emigrants 
from  all  the  eastern  and  middle  states."  "Kvery  point  of 
transit  across  the  Mississippi  has  been  crowded  with  the 
canvas-covered  wagons  of  the  hardy  pioneers  from  other 
western  states."  "Whole  townships  and  counties  have 
been  taken  up  and  settled  as  by  magic.  Tracts  of  country, 
scores  and  even  hundreds  of  miles  in  extent,  wliere  but  two 
years  ago  the  wild  Indians  disputed  the  possession,  only 
with  the  prairie  wolf  and  the  elk,  are  now  dotted  all  over 
with  the  rude  cabins  of  the  settlers." 

Into  such  a  scene  of  activit3^  our  missionary  fathers  en- 
tered with  a  vim  and  vigor  for  eternal  interests  commen- 
surate with  the  zeal  and  zest  for  perishing  things,  that 
was  all  about  them.  It  is  to  be  noted  however,  that  Rev. 
I  M.  Seay,  the  first  missionary  of  the  society,  received  but 
$75.00  for  his  first  year's  work. 

But  despise  not  the  day  of  small  things.  With  the  ap- 
pointment of  Rev.  J.  Y.  Aitchison  to  the  secretaryship  in 
the  following  3'ear,  practical  methods  were  put  into  opera- 
tion and  $2,087  20  was  raised  and  expended  in  direct  mis- 
sionary work  throughout  the  state.  It  is  with  no  compla- 
cency that  we  compare  this  courageous  and  hopeful  doing 
with  our  statistics  of  the  past  year.  We  are  giving  at 
present  but  S8,000  in  round  numbers  and  this  with  a  state 
population  many  times  as  large  as  in  1855,  and  a  Baptist 
constituency  at  the  present  time  of  40,000  or  more.  This 
ill  proportion  in  contributions  is  not  because  of  lessened 
requirement;  the  need  is  greater  than  ever  before.  Multi- 
tudes of  growing-  cities  and  communities  are  without  Bap- 
tist preaching,  and  many  of  them  without  evang-elical  ser- 
vices of  any  kind.  Several  evangelists  might  profitably  be 
employed  in  each  of  the  four  sections  of  the  state,  but  the 
money  is  lacking,  and  the  fields  wait  in  vain. 

Neither  is  this  lack  of  adequate  funds  because  of  a  dearth 
of  resources  in  the  state.     We  are  a  rich   and  prosperous 


20 

coniinonwealtli  Statistics  show  that  Iowa  stands  well  to 
the  front,  if  not  altog-ether  foremost,  in  the  earning^s  and 
saving-s  of  its  populace,  and  the  recent  cry  of  drouth  and 
calamity  has  been  proven  wholly  gratuitous  and  ungra- 
cious, in  view  of  the  large  returns  that  are  ours  in  these 
later  months  from  the  fertile  fields  and  rich  orchards,  not 
to  speak  of  the  thrifty  markets  of  the  state.  The  lines 
have  fallen  to  us  in  pleasant  places,  and  we  are  affluent 
and  well-to-do  as  compared  with  our  brethren  of  some 
other  states  and  territories.  Instead  of  basely  and  falselj' 
repining  over  fancied  or  feigned  poverty,  we  should  rejoice 
in  present  blessing-s  and  respond  this  year  to  mission  ap- 
peal with  a  thank  offering  that  should  bear  some  due  re- 
lation to  the  kind  gifts  that  have  been  bountifully  show- 
ered upon  us  from  the  skies.  "Freel3'  ye  have  received, 
freely  give."  So  may  we  respect  the  fathers  and  prove 
that  their  spirit  of  courage  and  self-sacrifice  has  not  per- 
ished from  the  earth. 

Looking  back  at  the  consecrated  labors  of  these  worthies, 
what  shall  we  say?  It  is  piety  that  we  lack,  my  brethren, 
down-rig-ht  piety,  and  devotion  to  the  higher  interests  of 
the  soul.  Our  very  prosperity  has  drawn  our  thoughts 
away  from  spiritual  things  and  made  us,  for  the  most  part, 
to  turn  our  accumulations  straight  back  into  other  chan- 
nels of  money-getting  instead  of  investing,  as  once  we 
were  prompt  to  do,  in  the  enterprise  of  soul  winning  and 
the  interests  of  the  kingdom.  Let  us  beware  lest  God  send 
us  judgment  of  genuine  famine  and  pestilence  in  the  land 
to  remind  us  of  our  dependence  upon  Him  and  to  teach  us 
to  be  humble  and  thankful  toward  Him  from  whom  all 
blessings  flow. 

In  conclusion,  if  we  would  keep  in  mind  the  stirring- 
events  of  the  past  and  honor  the  noble  veterans  of  the 
cross,  who  labored  and  wrought  in  the  days  of  small 
things — 

We  shall  maintain  the  cause  to  which  they  gave  so  un- 
grudging-ly  in  toil  and  sacrifice— 

We  shall   endeavor  in  our  day  and  generation  with  due 


21 

gifts  and  devotion  to  finish  the  work  which   they   began 
and  passed  on  to  us  — 

We  shall  seek,  in  a  like  humble  and  heroic  spirit,  in  the 
times  that  now  are,  to  love  and  serve  the  Christ  to  whom 
they  gave  in  lavish  unstintedness,  life  and  loyalty.  So 
shall  we  remember  the  fathers  that  are  gone  and  rightly 
aid  the  generations  yet  to  come. 


Syracuse,  New  York, 
February  16,  1894. 
Dear  Brother  Charles: 

I  duly  received  your  Book  of  Personal  Reminiscences, 
and  I  most  cordially  thank  you  for  it.  I  read  it  mostly 
through  the  first  day  I  received  it,  and  I  am  reading  now 
again.  It  interests  me  intensely  I'll  assure  you  and  as  I 
read  it  I  could  not  help  thinking  that  although  we  are 
brothers  yet  how  little  I  knew  of  your  life.  Your  Mission- 
ary years  in  Iowa  and  their  incidents  as  related  by  you,  I 
knew  nothing  of  and  of  course  the  book  is  at  once  a  novel 
and  a  revelation  to  me. 

And  then,  it  is  a  most  loving  and  affectionate  tribute  to 
the  memory  of  sister  Frances,  concerning  whom,  from  my 
earliest  childhood  to  the  day  of  her  death,  I  heard  only 
words  of  special  endearment  from  all  the  members  of  the 
family. 

She  occupied  a  most  conspicuous  place  in  the  tender  re- 
gard of  Father  and  Mother  and  her  memory  to  me  is  most 
sweet  and  precious.  I  am  glad  to  know  that  you  are  so 
well  and  contented,  and  what  a  comfort  it  must  be  to  you 
to  think  that  you  have  lived  a  life  of  Christian  iisefullness 
and  that  your  sons  are  upright,  worthy  and  noble  men. 
I  wish  I  had  such  comforts  now  to  brighten  the  shady  side 
of  life.  I  wish  I  could  see  you  and  the  family,  but  can't 
just  yet. 

I  am  most  lovingly  your  brother, 

WlIvBUR. 
THE   END 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 

0035520825 


958.5 
B81 


/t 


00  >-* 
CO  CO 
O^   CD 


BRITTLE  DO  NOT 
PHOTOCOPY 

Br-.. 
JUL  8      1958 


